Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY. MARCH 12. 1913. THE PREMIER AT CHRISTCHURCH.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLVIII, Issue XLVIII, 12 March 1913, Page 4

Nelson Evening Mail. WEDNESDAY. MARCH 12. 1913. THE PREMIER AT CHRISTCHURCH.

+ IN going to Christchureh to deliver his policy speech, Mr Massey obviously courted trouble, for there is in the City,of the Plains a large rowdy element which is always inclined;, to drag the city in the mud. And it is clear from the unsatisfactory report sent by the Press Association, that this element early set itself to help fill the hall and crowd many legitimate hearers out of the building. There is no fault to find with this action, and other citizens, if they do not trouble to exert themselves, deserve to be left behind in the race. But the fault to find with the hooligan element is not that they differed from the Premier and expressed

their dissent at the meeting, but that prive him of a fair hearing. In the commencement of his speech M»'. Massey referred in an interesting .manner to the financial difficulties his Government has had to face. He naturally spoke of the short-dated debentures, which, in the case of the loan last year, mean that the whole thing has to be gone into again. Mr. Allen's mission to the Old Country, he was fully entitled to describe as most successful. Mr. Massey gave the cost of the recent loan as £4 5s 6cl per cent. It will be seen that our statement of the cost at the time has worked out to be practically correct. It will be remembered tha£ we gave it at 4-J- per cent. The £5,000,000 loan, Mr. Massey stated, cost. £4 -12s and the loan of. last year £5 2s Bd. Mr. Allen's successful efforts at Home, in the face of very unfavourable circumstances, have earned him and his Government the thanks of New Zealanders. The suggestion b v an interrupter at the meeting that Mr. Massey had paid Judge Williams for a favourable verdict in the Southland land case is so ridiculously absurd that no notice need be taken of it. Evidently Mr Ma«sey was subjected to a good deal of interruption when referring to the Waihi strike, but the vast majority of the people of New Zealand are eternally thankful that strong men were in power at the critical time. They admired the way in which this Government decided to extend the protection of the State to any of its citizens in distress, and to maintain law and order at any political cost to itself. I Tweak men hunting for votes had been in office at the time there is no saying when the trouble would have ended. Mr. Massey gave his assurance that the reform of the Upper House would also be gone on with, and it is to be hoped that the "Liberal" nominees in the Chamber will not be quite so conservative this year as they were last. There i f s not the slightest doubt that in the great constitutional and administrative changes the 'Government is bringing about, it has proved itself over and over again to be essentially democratic, at f least- verv much more so than its predecessors" in office. The Public Service, Public Works and Legislative Council were previously ;used not in the best interests of the people. The possibility of patronage, the Massey Government has set itself to remove., and all true Liberals must wish it success in its efforts. When the -"Liberals" came into power in 1890 one of their chief objects was reform of the Legislative Council, and if anyone jumped out of the frying-pan into the fire j they-did. It was their desire to reduce the term of office from life to seven years. In some respects this has much in its favour, but these legislators failed to see that it would place meiribers at the mercy of the Government. If there had been frequent changes in the Government of the country, the evil would not have been so pronounced, but in the long reign o£ the "Liberals" the Chamlvber" became more or less packed with men of their way of thinking, and not many were game enough to differ very much from "their masters towards the .close of the seven years* appointment. And so the Legislative Council was reduced to little more than a farce. As is well known, it .is the Massey Government's intention to give hack to the electors the right of appointments to the Chamber. It is to be hoped that conserva'tiveness of the "Liberals" will not mean that Mr. Massey will have to make fresh appointments to put his proposals into effect. Before the speech can be dealt with comprehensively a fuller to-