"GENIUS FOR COURAGEOUS SPEECH"

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2157, 25 May 1914, Page 8

"GENIUS FOR COURAGEOUS SPEECH"

"LIFE'S" COMPLIMENT TO MS. . ■ MASSEY,

■ ■.1 no oHrrent issue of the Australian magazine "Life" contains (bo following appreciative.reference to tlio attitude taJcoii up by the Vvkm Minister of New -Scalane! (the .Highs Hon. W. F. Jlassev) towards the RedJ''«ls:-- ' ' "New Jiwilnnd'has in Mr. llassey -a i-remter with , a genius for speech. At a great political .ißoetina in Auckland to dismissed the recent strike—wliicli, !iy the way, cost the Dominion in solid cash'over £90,000—and' tnere were many interjections from some ;J{«d I'ods present. In reply' Mr. Mae-sc-,v flashed, out, '[ don't ga back nil a , single action. If you think we hawdone wrong vote against -hs. If thero are any enemies of this country, it is tile set of men who arft going about asdt earning their living as honest men do-, but hvmg on tho earnings of men who arc ende-awiimug to set class against class, country against town, employee agaiast employer. ■ We want papulation in this tonnt.ry, bat we don't want that class, 1 say. as leader of this country, the sooner , tliefe peopio go and shako ths dust of ftmv Zealand off their shoes, the hotter it. will bo for tho people of the country.' Tiiis brought out a lemnosfc ol applause, tot a public mooting always admires a speaker who hours .himself witJi derision, and fearlessMr. Mnssey went, oh to say 'that he did not , care a snap of tho 'fingers for the votes of the Bed Feds, , "'I am thinking <vf what fh® strike leaders in Wellington said. They said that, tlwy wwdd have the streets of Wellington running with blood; they said that they would fly the Socialistic: flag over l'arliaßhsnt B-mltfags. They are nice people to fly say flag, It would bo a flag of distress.' "That was couragemis talking, and Mr, Mnssey lias excellent reasons for ■aourage. The genora! public sentiment of New Zealand is with him; and, incidentally, he is ab?e to report that the finances of the yettr end with a surplus of-some £400,000. This is successful ■finance; and, in addition, it is honest iinar.ee, Ear the full amount of £673,000 lins been transferred to the Public Works Fund, and every Treasury billhas keen paid off. . New Zealand, like Australia, h a covmtry *f illimitable resources, rich, both iii the type ef its population and in the- gifts of Nature."