NATIVE LANDS.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXIX, Issue 126, 20 July 1911, Page 5

NATIVE LANDS.

MR MASSEY AT AUCKLAND. (Per Press Association.) Auckland, July 19. Mr Massey leader of tne Opposition, addressed a largely attended meeting in the Choral Hall this evening. The building was filled, and a large number of people, estimated at about a thousand, were unable t) obtain admission. Mr Massey, who had an enthusiastic reception and an excellent heating, outlined the Opposition platform on the lines of his Wellington and older speeches. The platform, ho declared, was the most liberal, the most democratic, and the most pi ogressivc that had ever been put forward by any political party in this country. In speaking on the native land question, he repeated his previous itmarks regarding the transaction in respect to the Mokau Linds, and went on to say that the firm of lawyers who acted for the individual who purchase the lands from the natives was that of Messrs Findlay, Dalziell, and Co.— —(“Oh!”) —Since then he understood the Order-in-Council was Sir das. Jarroll, Acting-Prime Ministe , whilst the chairman of the syn Feat 1 was an ex-Minister of Lands wi + h strong leasehold proclivities, Mr R. McNab. —(“Oh!”) —Eince then lie m dorstood tire syndicate had been permitted to acquire a further area rf some 17,000 acres, making a total c.f about 70.000 acres. Why was ibis syndicate permitted to acquire this large area? Why was not a sufficient area reserved for the use of the natives? Not a single acre had been reserved for the natives. Why was not the land submitted to auction or tender? Ho intended to press for an enquiry into why the land was allowed to pass into the possession of a gang of speculators. Sir Jas. Carroll had said that, ho (Mr Massey) know nothing about native lands. IjTe thanked God that ho did not know as much about these lands as the Acting-Prime Minister. Neither he nor any other member of tho Opposition had ever trafficked in native lands.

The following motion, proposed by Mr E. G. B. Moss (ex-M.P.), and seconded by Mr J. J. Rutherford, was carried amidst applause: “That this meeting of Auckland citizens thanks Mr Massey heartily for his interesting and lucid exposition of the political situation, and congratulates him upon the able and statesmanlike policy ho has unfolded on behalf of the Opposition party, and wishes him every success in his desire to' secure a more economical administration and genuine reform in the Government of the Dominion.”

An amendment that Mr Massey ho thanked only was not seconded.