THE REFORM CAMPAIGN

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1143, 2 June 1911, Page 6

THE REFORM CAMPAIGN

' MR MASSEY IN THE SOUTH. A MOST SUCCESSFUL JOUR. (By TVJceraph.—Special CorreSDondent.l ■■ ■ - Christchurch, June 1. "The feeling, politically, in the south was a revelation to mo," «iid Mr. Massey ,to-day, when discussing his recent visit to Southland. "1 have, come to the conclusion that there is not another district in New Zealand that is more in sympathy with the Opposition party than Southland is. During the two or three days Mr. James Allen and I spent there jive received' the heartiest and most enthusiastic of welcomes in every centre we visited. The v;eather was not good, and the nights-were dark, but at Riverton the ball was packed with settlers, many of whom had come from quite a long distance in order to be present. They took the opportunity of expressing their heartiest sympathy with the position the Opposition had taken up in Parliament, and on' the platform. We journeyed from Invercargill to Eiverton in the train, but .1 well-known resident of the district, whose name is also known in politics, Mr. Henry. Hirst, gave us the opportunity of doing the return journey in his motorcar. Unfortunately the' state of the weather prevented us seeing much of (ho ■•country,)'but.:"we\riiet quite a number of well-known residents during the trip, which took us through Otnutau, Drummond,, and Winton.' At,the''last-named place, which is the centre of -the PrimeMinister's electorate, a number o£: resi,dent's gathered at almost', a moment's, no- ' ti'ce. ' While they appreciated the 'fact ■ that I could not speak ,jn Awarua during tliß'Pi'ime Minister , in England, : they .insisted :ori a promise that I should go back to Winton at some future date after Sir Joseph "Ward has. re..tturned.fo New Zealand.",., .. • .Mr. Massey added that a:t Invercargil!, where he spoke in the Municipal Theatre, there was again a very large attendance, in spite of the wet evening. The audience,, .in. one respect at least, put lip a record. "It was ithe first political meeting. I had ever seen-or had the opportunity of addressing, where there was not one interjection of a'hostile nature. The large audience was evidently with me, unanimous from start to finish. Politically, I have every reason to be quite satisfied with our visit to Southland."

' : -Speaking • generally-, Mr.- Massey said that lie was quite satisfied that the country desired a change "of Government, but the difficulty was. that the most popular men, and those most likely to get elected, were in many instances unwilling to come forward and offer their services to the public. He hop-ed that this state of things would be improved on as they, got nearer the elections, but in any case he could promise that there would , be a larger number of Opposition candidates available when nominations were required than bad been the case at any time during Ihe last, twenty years.