POLITICAL.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXV, Issue 283, 27 November 1914, Page 8

POLITICAL.

THE OSTRICH FARM. { PRIME MENISTER EXPLAINS. I F Pica l’1u«;:ss ..»\.s.socl.u'l-oN. l_ Wellington, .\o\'einhei' 21!}. l .%pe:lkingat the Low-1' Hntt to» Illgllll, the l’l'inie Minister 3'<-l'erre~;l, alter some lll‘L’(‘l‘jo(,'tl()ll.'~‘., to {lie sol)jevt of the Pnlaekohe Ustl‘l’_'ll larin. “.1 want to clear up this in-aL_te: ol theyostrich tai'nl,” said Mr .\l:lssey. A Voice: “Al)mlt time you did!” Mr Massey: “And .l waited for the opportunity of doing .50 in Wellington.” My .\las.~:.ey went on to say the line was surveyed and pl'ac‘;it::'.ll}' a;:,reed to ]-3 )'(‘:ll's hefore he hecam(ll1(‘l1]l)CI‘ for the distrit-t. A ;;I'e:lt deal of energy had heen put into the construction of the Inain trunk lines, and qnite rightly. The people of the district had been given pronlise.~ hy various Ministers. The Hon. Jl. I\l.(-Keiixie, and Sir William Hull-Jones had hoth gone to the district and had approved of the line, and he (Mi Massey) had no doubt that it would pay now. About the ostrich farm. A gentleman of Auckland district, who had joined the great majority, had left :1 will stating that his pl'opel:ty must he put ‘into cash. The outcome of the negotiations over the estate was the estahlislnnent of this ostl‘i('ll farm. into which he had put £IOOO. The company which had been formed had paid £17,500 fox‘ the property, and had come to the (-onelns-ion that the hes-t thing to do was to improve it. For this purpose they had ho'rl-owed iirst £l0,(,)0(), and then a -S1I1.’lll(“T sum. The pi'ox,)ert_\' had never paid ‘any of them, inc-lndin_; himself. :2 ‘cent. He hoped some day that they would get their money hack, but it rwvas being inferred that he \\':ls using the people’s money to huild a I'ail\vay lto benefit himself. As a matter of ‘;fa(:t‘, the property touched on the} lpresent main line. lf they had travell-‘i ed to Auckland they had probahly ‘seen the ostriehes. Tliere were s()*.f“ ‘of them at Pukekohe. That was {where the property touched the main line. V '

Mr Massey then quoted' from a newspaper report, which said that at one of his meetings, Mr Glass had repudiated his own paper, the e " Zealand Times. He wouldn’t touch it.

One of the audience in a front seat; “So decent man would!” Mr Massey: “No, 1 don’t believe that any decent man would touch it with a forty-loot pole!”

Mr Massey here produced a plan oi the district. The new line, he said, did not run through the farm, as had been stated time and "-again. “In Auckland,” said Mr Massey, “where I am known, the people laugh at this. J don’t profess to he better than anybody else, hut my constituents know that lam a straight man.” (Applause.)' He would not have leu his constituents, as he had done, assured of a 1500 majority at then hands if he had any charge to answer.

“I want the New Zealand Times to come out in the open. (Hear, hear.) It has been inferring and casting about the impression that I have been using tile money of the State to build this railway for my own benefit. lo say such a thing is a falsehood, or to infer it either. I challenge the Now Zealand Times to come into the open, and say that I have used the people’s money for my own personal gain, and I will know what to do. I am just watching and waiting. H the New Zealand Times says that, then I will take the matter, to the Supreme Court and fight them if it costs me the last shilling that I own. (Applause from the front seats.) 1 know the mudslinger who writes these articles. I know he won t apologise, but I’ve taken the opportunity of telling the -people the facts of the case.”

.TJ-IE M,|.N:IS'|',ER;;OF MAR|‘NE;AT‘ V FEII.-DING. ‘ —---- . 1 ‘ (Feilding, Novexlll)el' 27. ; r'J‘lle Hon, F. M. B_.l“isher (Minister :0? (.\-lzu-iue) had _a packed house hast hlight, and spoke for an hour, bemg ;suhje‘(,-ted to a good deal of heckling. ‘Ho defended the attitude of the Gov. !ernment duringr, the strike, and Silid ;they would stop the next strike much ‘quicker. The (Jovernmont’s llilvill ’policy was here “One Flag one N-avy.”t ‘New '/.e:lland would lxzxye :1 J!-riston \Cl'lliS£’l' or two manned by New Zeamnclers. Sit-no M r 'r\lnss()y took offirv. cmmnerco and trade had int.-I'eusodj,‘ taxation had gononllp at a lesser rnto? than under Sir Joseph \\";11-(1; Cllstonls téxEltir_m had dot-roused; the Govern-‘ mont had i11cn3:1so(l the sul-ul'ios of‘ Civil Servants, the police, the school teacher, and r:lih\'ny servants. All rv_ c.-cxipts from land rcvmllu- now go to the land fund nc-cmmt to pun-hnso esf:ltos for closer sottlolnent. Tho pl'ofit.~'4 of the State Fire ]IlS1ll‘{1H(‘(‘ and 'Puhlic- ’l‘ru.~;t had im-roused un(ler‘lVlr I\[n..s.<o_\'. Ht! (-learod tho Government of any I'o:spollsihilit_v ovor tho Huntly (“S:lSt(‘l'. Tf roturlled. he would ¢9ndo:l\~'or to :11‘1'al1ge‘1‘(\(-i----proc-nl tariffs with Australia and ('an;\dn, -and open tradv I'ohltviolls with tho T.'llitt'*<l Stzltms. No (‘:111t;1nko|'o11s ](‘.gi.\']:lth)ll was foro(‘:lst<=d, hut the era would he an adnxinistmtivo. one, [F Sir {Joseph \V:lrd was returne_d to pmror, he would require the sn_pp<_n't of the Sorrinl Demool'ats, whose Invadquarters were at Berlin. 'l‘here-‘wa.< an a-Hianne between the Liberals and the Red Feds. At the (-on('tlusion of. the spooch, it vote of <~onfidon(*9 in {Mr M:ls.<e_v was cnl'l'iod by about three to one.