ASSURANCE OF SUCCESS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18355, 22 March 1923, Page 8

ASSURANCE OF SUCCESS.

REFORM IK TAUBANGA.

HONOURS WITH THE PREMIER.

CONVINCING PERSONALITY.

WARM WELCOME EVERYWHERE. CONFIDENCE IN GOVERNMENT. [BT TELEGRAPH.—SPECIAL REPORTER.) TE PUKE, Wednesday. The Reform compaign for the Tauranga seat goes forward as, a movement assured , of success. It is brisk, it is buoyant, and it is efficient and convincing. This is a considered opinion after ten days in different parts of the electorate and ex- - tensive tours with the different contestants. 'A remarkable change iuse been effected in local opinion as to the result of the poll next Wednesday. There is now very little aggressive confidence that the standard of Liberalism will be hoisted over Tauranga. In addition to the marked improvement in the platform activities of Mr. 0. E. Macmillan, who has rapidly proved that he is a man of political resourcefulness and acumen, the Prime Minister has done a graat deal more than tighten up loose opinion. The deop impression Mr. Massey created at Katikati on Monday has been made very much deeper by i Lis comprehensive tour of the eastern portion of the electorate. Only a man with a remarkable capacity for work could have undertaken such a programme and perform it with so great an effect. To-day, for example, lie visited four different localities and addressed an enthusiastic meeting of settlers and residents in each place. Explaining the explainable. One of the most interesting features of these gatherings is the fact that Mr. Massey finds some difficulty in keeping to the main stream of political argument and national policy. There has every* where been a keen desire for explanatory information regarding some of the remarkable statements made by the Liberal candidate. The majority of hard-working farmers appear to have been convinced % recently that one of New Zealand's difficulties was ife burden of national debt. For that reason they are manifestly puzzled as to how that burden is likely to be reduced by adding untold millions more to it. The Prime Minister has found it necessary to make much explanation, but the gist of it is the obvious and simple fact that it cannot be done. Time and again Mr. Massey has been called upon to set right several mis-statements ■ of financial affairs. The taxation comparison, for example, seems to have become a Bay of Plenty joke. Through the Countryside. It is scarcely necessary to detail the number of Mr. Massey's meetings in & sunlit countryside. It is enough to say broadly that their character has represented a remarkable tribute to the Prime Minister, and also a very pleasant manifestation of the very substantial faith of Tauranga in the strength of the Government. Mr. Massey's itinerary to-day was a visit to Papamoa, where he addressed a crowded meeting in the local school and easily secured a unanimous vote of thanks and confidence. This was followed by a very happy visit to the Te Puke District High School, with an admirable . speech to the scholars. Then in the afternoon the settlers of Paengaroa mustered in full strength and were loth to' let Mr. Massey go after an hour's spirited address on Dominion and Imperial affairs. " Again the vote of thanks and confidence was . significant in its unanimity and strength. Later still the Prime Minister was the guest of Mr. and Mrs. Mitchell at their homestead in Rangiuru, where a noteworthy meeting of settlers _ gave him a rousing welcome and held him in speech and explanatory conversation for an hour. They assured him on departure that there need be no anxiety about the 6*ll.