WAR QUESTIONS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16165, 20 March 1918, Page 6

WAR QUESTIONS.

ADDRESS BY MR AIASSEY. (press association telegram.) FEILDING, March 19. A roception was tendered to-day to tho Hon. D. 11. Guthrie by the electors of Oroua, to mark his promotion to the National Cabinet. The Mayor (Mr Ongley) presided. Tho Right Hon. W. F. Massey, in referring to the war, said that witji the .British it was a case of endurance. Groat Britain had a long score to, settle with. Germany and tlie Central .Powers before' tho war finished. fcioir.o people at the other end of the world were saying it was timo we closed down with regard to the war. '*1 say no. Wo cannot close down. We cannot close down until the enemy is beateu. This was a particularly uangerous period of tho war. We have to combat people of our own who are war-weary "and long for peacc. Reparation must be insisted on, and we must go on until we make it impossible for Germany to return to the Pacific. We cannot afford to lot Samoa go, not to mention the islands in which Australia is interested."

Speaking without any claim to any special knowledge, Sir Massey said lie did not think it would bo long boforo there would bo something in the nature of a Peace Conference. At the Imporial Conforonce he would uphold the claims of the islands, and with regard to after-the-war questions, he would support a policy of preference to the British Empire. Our enemies should never again be allowed to dump their goods in British countries on terms of equality with the British. The war should prove an unforgettable lesson to Great Britain. He thought Great Britain's Shipping Controller had treated Now Zealand well, and would continue to do so. Mr Guthrie, replying to an address of congratulation, said he would not then go into matters of tenure, etc.. but he would say that the day of ranching in New Zealand was past; the day of closer settlement was coming. Wo had only scratched the surface so far as producers, but. in the future must work the land along scientific lines.