INSULT TO PREMIER.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVI, Issue 17336, 6 December 1919, Page 10

INSULT TO PREMIER.

THE CHRISTCHURCH INCIDENT REGRET EXPRESSED BY PRESS > CRITICISM OF DR. THACKER. [BT TELEGRAPHOWN CORRESPONDENT.] CHKISTCBXTRCH, Friday. The morning papers lay the blame for last night's disturbance in connection with the Prime Minister's meeting on different shoulders. Editorially the Press says: — "The extraordinary happenings at the Coliseum last night -were not creditable to Christchurch nor, we are sorry we must add, to the Mayor. If the crowd of people who burst open the already overcrowded hall had restrained themselves the Prime Minister would have had a successful i meeting, although no doubt it would have had its lively passages and been none the worse for that. The crowd's eagerness to hear Mr. Massey and his own skill as a" public ■ speaker would have triumphed over the response of violent partisans of Liberalism to the incitement to and hostility contained in the manner in which the Mayor, with a deplorable want of understanding of his duties as the chief magistrate of the city, introduced the Prime Minister, who had come upon his invitation. One can never tell with Dr. Thacker whether he errs through lack of taste and judgment or through excess of partisan zeal. One thing is certain, Sir Joseph Ward is the only party leader who will ever accept an invitation from the Mayor again." The Lyttelton Times says : — "Canterbury, as everybody knows, is the New Zealand stronghold of Liberalism, but it is not Liberalism to refuse an opponent a hearing. It is not Liberalism that puts an affront upon the head of the Government such as was put upon Mr. Massey last evening. The disgraceful demonstration was the work of those wild followers whose comrades in Wellington have caused them to be known of 'the interruption party.' The great bulk of the huge audience that attended the Coliseum. comprised citizens who had assembled with the desire and intention of listening to ,the Prime Minister politely and patiently. even though they might disagree with the greater part of his speech. We sympatliise with Mr. Massey, and would like to assure him that the interrupters totally misrepresent the temper of the Christ-church people as a whole. The responsibility for the scene unquestionally rests with the small section of the community which has so plainly advertised during th e last few weeks its intolerance and disrespect- for anything but that peculiar brand of Labour politics expounded by nominees of the Labour Representation Committees. whose leader is Mr. H. E. Holland, the internationalist socialist."