THE MOKAU DEAL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 14855, 5 December 1911, Page 8

THE MOKAU DEAL.

REFORM LEADER'S CHARGES. A LETTER FROM SHAREHOLDERS. [by telegraph.rnEss ASSOCIATION.] Palmers-ton North, Monday. Tim following communication has been cent, to Mr. Robert McNab by Hawke's Bay shareholders and directors of the Mokau Company, all of whom arc supporters of tho Opposition : — "Although in politics we are supporters of the Reform party, and are opposed to the policy of the present Government, which you are supporting, we enter our most emphatic protest against tho action of our party leaders and those who are supporting them in the attitudo they have taken up in reference to tho purchaee of the Mokau Estate by the Mokau Coal Company. Wo aro shareholders in the company, some of us are directors, some of us sold the property to tho company, and all are intimately acquainted with the circumstances connected with the purchase. Wo also know the circumstances under which you wero induced to take shares in the company, and at our request to become chairman. Not one of thoso circumstances retlects in any way upon the action of the. Government or upon yourself, and although the campaign of slander is being carried on by men of our own party, and by our own party leader, in order to strike a blow at tho Government, and to keep you out of the public life of this country, our ideas of justice and fair play compel us to tell the people of tho Dominion, for what our statements are worth, that the charges made against yourself and the Government are entirely untrue, and .in our opinion are a disgrace to party politics. Signed, Bernard Chambers, T. Mason Chambers, William Nelson, R. D. D. McLean, D. Whyte." MR. MASSEY'S REPLY. - I . . . . . - •;/' ! "OBVIOUSLY A QUIBBLE." A reply to .the statements in the letter was mado by Mr. Massey in his speech at Devonj>ort last evening. He drew attention to the fact that the letter dealt particularly with his attitude in reference to the purchase of the Mokau Estate by the Mokau Coal Company. That was obviously a quibble, for the question was not whether transaction between the speculator and the company was wrong. What was wrong was the issue of an Order-in-Council by the Government which allowed the land to be sold to a speculator who afterwards sold it to the company. The company might be perfectly right and legitimate, But the sale to tho speculator was absolutely wrong and could not be defended. The signatories of the letter were described as supporters of the Opposition. Ono of them, who was formerly in business with Sir Joseph Ward, certainly was ! not. (Laughter.) Mr. Massey said that no one had yet accepted his offer that- if any of the charges made by him were proved to bo substantially incorrect he would retire from public life "for ever. ... The statement that the charges against the Government were entirely untrue was, in his opinion, libellous. " These men have probably £1000 for every pound I have," he concluded. " But if it costs mo mv last shilling I am going to make them withdraw that .statement or prove it." (Applause.)