MR MASSEY'S VIEWS.

Otago Witness, Issue 3415, 29 August 1919, Page 24

MR MASSEY'S VIEWS.

CONFIDENCE IN THE FUTURE. WELLINGTON, August 21. _ A few comments on tho situation as it is at present were made by the Prime Minister to-night. When asked whether he was surprised to receive news of Sir Joseph Ward's resignation, Mr Massey said: "I cannot say I am surprised, because when' I was in Paris I noticed in the New Zealand papers forwarded to me that a meeting of the Liberal Party had been held, and that, with the concurrence of their leader, they had decided to dissolve the partnership and bring the Coalition Ministry to an end ; but I did expect that we should have had more notice than has been given. "I think the dissolution of the partnership should have taken place directly on our arrival in New Zealand, or it should have been held until wo had got through the business of the session. We are now within seven days of the meeting of Parliament. The Speech of the Governor-Gen-

eral has still to be drafted, the Financial Statement has still to be prepared, and the amount of the soldiers' gratuities has stiil to be fixed and agreed to. In addition, the Minister of Lands and his departrn.sr.t nave made an estimate of the sum necessary to carry on the work of repatriation. This has yet to be considered by the Cabinet, and later on will have to be submitted to Parliament. Then there is the question of a reduction of the taxation, to which the country is looking forward eagerly. I still hope that something will be done in connection with this during the coming session. "In calling attention to these important matters I should just like to say that I have personally no fear for the future. I have absolute confidence in the country and absolute confidence in the good sense, intelligence, and patriotism of the great majority of the people of the dominion. "I understand that Sir Joseph Ward has taken advantage of the opportunity t» put forward, his policy. I am not going tc^ Complain. I simply ask the public to withhold their judgment until they have had an op portunity of comparing his proposals with those which I hope to submit later; but I want to make it quite clear that I am utterly opposed to setting party against party. It is very evident that there is a section of people in the community who are anxious to return to the old system of party sliibboleths and the old bad ways of seeking a party advantage without regard to the first interests of the country. This is 'iot the time for anything of that sort. I hope to see a strong party, whatever they may call themselves, of the very best men the community can select returned to Parliament at the coming election with the one definite object of maintaining the prosperity of the dominion and increasing the production of the country, and so enabling the people, without inconvenience, to meet the enormous liabilities which we have incurred by doing our share during the war period. " One is tempted to expound in some detail the proposals which my Government will put before the country. We have in view definite and practical proposals for the development of the country by settlement and improved transport facilities. In our schemes of settlement we must, and we will, have regard first always to the claims of the returned soldiers, and we hope to be able to give them good opportunities of making a success of their farming ventures. "When the war broke out, on behalf of my colleagues, I laid down the policy of the Government. It was that we should do our full share in the war and keep the country prosperous. That we have been successful scarcely requires demonstration. It is not necessary to refer to what was done during the war, but, with regard to the prosperity of the country, the statistics for the last six months show that our exports for that period have been valued at over £29,000,000 more than the total value for the preceding" 12 months. Admitting that this was due to shipping haying become more plentiful, the fact remains that for the whole period of the war our exports were over £50,000,000 per year." As to the future Mr Massey was quite confident. He "expected to be able-to carry on the Government. He said he could not go into details as to his intentions regarding the formation of a new Government, but there would be a reconstruction of the Ministry in the near future.