THE PREMIER

Wanganui Herald, Volume LIII, Issue 160811, 19 November 1920, Page 5

THE PREMIER

HIS VISIT TO WANGANUI. The Premier, the Right Hon. W. F. Massey, who visited Wanganui yesterday, was interviewed by the Mayor (Mr T. B. Williams), Cr. Sharpe (chairman of the Finance Committee), the Town Clerk (Mr G. Mnrch), and the Borough Solicitor (Mr W. J. Treadwell) with regard to Borough finance. Mr A. G. Bignell, chairman of the Harbour Board, also waited upon the Premier on matters in connection with tho Harbour Board and the Railway Department- Both interviews were of an informal nature and were unofficial.

In the evening the Premier visited tho Scottish Fair at Everybody’s, where there was a very large attendance. Mr Massey received-an enthusiastic reception, and in the course of a very happy address congratulated the promoters on the success which had already attended their efforts, and wished the movement to more firmly establish the Pipe Band here every success. Mr Massey thanked the audience for the kind reception it had accorded him. He had, he stated, heard a great deal about the Wanganui Pipe Band. “I’m not Scotch,” declared the Prime Minister, “but somehow or other the music of the bagpipes always appeals to me. It is, I suppose, because it recalls the stirring memories of history in which Highlanders and the pipers have played so gallant a part. /It brings back memories of ‘Jessie of Lucknow’ and ‘The Campbells Are Gomijug.’ It recalls Inkerman, in which Scottish regiments played such a great part- Who of us can forget that incident in the Boer War, when a Highland piper was shot through the ankles, but still played his company on. (Applause.) In the Great War just ended what a magnificent part the Highlanders have played. The Scotch have ever proved themselves a highly patriotic people and as such will never *be forgotten-”

The Prime Minister went on to claim that he was a better Scotchman than most of that nationality. How many in that building could claim to be a Freeman of the City of Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland, or an LL.B. of Edinburgh University, both of which honours had been conferred upon him, a fact of which he was very proud indeed. “In these respects,” said Mr Massey, “1 can claim to be a betted Scotchman than most.”

Mr Massey went on to say that he belonged to a race of people who had been banished from Scotland to the North.of Ireland. His people had been Covenanters, and .he claimed to be descended from Covenanters on the one side and Borderers on the other; The speaker proceeded to deal humorously with Scottish history, asserting that James VI. of Scotland, after ascending the English throne as James 1., had sent the Borderers over to settle differences in Ireland. In speaking so highly of the Scottish race, he./was not going Lack for one moment on the English or Irish races. He was glad to be able to call' himself a British citizen. “I hope and believe,” declared the Prime Minister, “that the national spirit will he preserved, as you are doing to-night. I don’t care a jot whether a man is a Scotchman, an • Englishman, or an Irishman,' so long as he is a true Britisher. If all were loyal to the Empire they would continue to prosper.

The Premier left Wanganui at an early hour this morning for Marton, where Ira caught the Main Trunk express fo| Wellington. v.