The Star. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1922. MR MASSEY’S MEETING.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16903, 30 November 1922, Page 6

The Star. THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 30, 1922. MR MASSEY’S MEETING.

* I i The visit of the Prime Minister to j Christchurch on the eve of the general J election will be an interesting event, j Mr Massey is to reply to the speech I made by the Leader of the Opposition, j and will endeavour to persuade the elec- | tors of this city that they should de- } sert their Liberal traditions and join jup with the banner of Reform. We j are not in the least alarmed as to the outcome of the meeting. Mr Ma&se» j has never succeeded in winning a single j city electorate in Christchurch, and | he will be a. bold man who would de | clare that Reform is going to do any [ better on Thursday next than it has done in the past. There is no hope for the Tories as far as the public o c Christchurch are concerned. There are many questions on which the meet ing to night wouM like to hear Mr Massey. We take the liberty of sug gesting that he should deal with the subject of electoral reform, and tell the public when he is going, to redeem his promise to give the electors somethin .* better than the Second Ballot Act. It is interesting to recall that Mr Massey was once a convert to proportional representation, but that eventually he fell from grace. At present his partv is the bulwark of the “first past the post ** system, which lias served it well it has kept the Government in power, in spite of the fact that the Government is in z>. minority in the country. If Mr Massey could tell the electors when he is going to produce the “ something better ” his visit to Christ church will not be in vain. We hope that Mr Massey will he given a fair hearing, and that the scenes which brought discredit on the city on pre vious occasions will not be repeated. We say that sincereh, in spite of the fact that, by some peculiar mental twist, an appeal by Liberals for fair play for .Mr Massey is regarded in the Reform quarters as an incitement to disorder! We hove no sympath - with the peculiar attitude of mind which supports the howling down of an opponent who is on his defence.