MR MASSEY HUMILIATED.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17030, 2 May 1923, Page 1

MR MASSEY HUMILIATED.

“ SHAMELESS BRIBERY ” FAILS. (Per Press Association. ) DUNEDIN, May 2. Mr T. K. Sidey stated that Mr Macpherson’s victory was notable. In a measure it was due, no doubt, to an appeal to the electors’ sense of fair play. In the fight put up against the Premier and the whole influence of the Government in office, Mr Macpherson had greatly enhanced his reputation as a platform speaker. Mr Massey, by the extraordinary extent to which he had carried his personal intervention, had only himself to thank for his humiliation. The country had never before witnessed so shameless an attempt to bribe a constituency with public money. It was not a good precedent, and it furnished another illustration of the failure of Reform to live up to its professions. Fortunately, the Oamaru electors had risen superior to the influences to which they had been subjected, and had provided an object lesson to the country, which, it was to be hoped, would not be lost upon the present and future Governments and Prime Ministers.