MR MASSEY'S BOGIES.

Observer, Volume XXIX, Issue 11, 28 November 1908, Page 3

MR MASSEY'S BOGIES.

His Interest in Grey Lynn

WHEN the campaign, in Grey Lynn was beginning to gather heat it was ingeniously whispered in accents meant to be heard (but not printed) that the Prime Minister would not break his heart if Mr Fowlds should happen to be beaten. The little fable had its day, but it did no great harm, and we are quite justified in believing that the result of the election nave Sir Joseph Ward much satisfaction. We are also entitled to conclude that it ga.ve threat joy to the Leader oi the Opposition. ' Mr Massey prayed and worked for the downfall of ntany a Ministerialist, and his labours (if not his i>etitions) were not without some effect, particularly in Taranaki and the country districts of Wellington ; but unless the event had syi.ehorised with the annihilation of the Ward party, Mr Massey would have been deeply hurt by the fall of Mr Fowlds.

It was bad enough to lose Mr McNab. When the Freehold party uttered their peans of delight anil •shouted " all our Massey 's work !" Mr Massey himself was not taking any pleasure in the occurrence. If Mr Fowlds had shared his colleague's fate the calamity would have he-en too grievous to he borne. No one with more than a casual acquaintance with Parliament can form a decent conception of what Mr Massey ■would do in the absence of the protagonists of Leasehold and Single Tax. Mr Fowlds, as combining in larger measure the two doctrines, would have been the greater loss. He is to Mr Massey what Auld Clootie is to a. certain order of divines — a stock-in-trade. Mr Massey could not get on without him. He is the real rallying point of the Opposition, as it is at present constituted. The principle of the freehold is sound, but it does not appeal with the force of conviction to a people who are not yet dominated, as a people, by a l«ve for locality.

It is all very well for the Opposition to talk about the sentiment of the freehold, but ninety-nine hundredths are willing to sell it to the highest bidder. Deeply as we may regret it, there is little poetry left in pastoral and agricultural investments. The appeal of the Opposition consequently is to the belieose and not to the aesthetic instincts. "We don't ask you," they say in effect, "to come and sing songs in praise of our species of tenure, but to help us to knock down the men who would rob us of it." Lots of people are only too eager to "c the bear baited without pausing to inquire into the merit," of the bear or the animals that do the baiting. It is the personal note, that has made Mr Massey so effective. Much more is to be gained by materialising the wicked leasehold, so to speak, and clothing it with the flesh of Mr Fowlds.

Leasehold, simply as leasehold, is a poor unsubstantial thing to battle with ; but leasehold in the sturdy form of the Minister for Health can be caught hold of. The sins .of the leasehold are vague and intangible ; but the sins of Mr Fowlds are to be read in old volumes of "Hansard" (along with those of many other people) and one can get a grip of them. It is therefore quite a mistake to suppose that Mr Nicholson was a Masseyite or that he had the sympathy of Mr Massey. If a strong Opposition is necessary to good government, so likewise is a strong Government indispensable to good opposition. Always admitting that the downfall of the present Cabinet would be the best thing for the country, Mr Massey can see no fun in opposing principles which are not backed by men powerful enough to stand pounding.