A WORTHY REPRESENTATIVE

Dominion, Volume 13, Issue 52, 25 November 1919, Page 6

A WORTHY REPRESENTATIVE

1 .ONDON OPINION OF MR. MASSEY. The following extract is from tho editorial columns of the "Daily Telegraph," one of the leaning London dailies. II is dated June 28, 1919:— If tlie mandatory solution of tho Peace Conference was not the one which either tlui Commonwealth or the Dominion would have preferred, at least it gave Ihem t.lio assurance' which they desired; and thanks in large measure to tho persuasive am! robust advocacy of Mr. Massov. it is expressly provided in tho Treaty of Peace that tho South Pacific Islands are to ho administered under the laws of the mandatory as an integral part of her territory. If, therefore, ns may reasonably bo assumed, New Zealand is nniMijnted the mandatory of tho League of Nations for ,Samoa, that island will lie administered as an integral part of the Dominion, and tho difference between styih a status and actual possession will move a nominal difference only. This is merely one instance in which Mr. Massev has done splendid service at the Peace Conference. Ho has played there the role which everyone expected from so staunch a patriot. * lie has been strong on the question of indemnitiea and reparation; no one. has been more insistent on securing tho trial and punishment of tlioso guilty of crimes against the laws and customs of war. Ho has also been an ardent supporter of the League of Nations, though at times ho mav have thought that the settlement of the actual terms of peace was even more Dressing than tho drafting of the Covenant of (he League.

Out of the lart three years Mr. Massey has practically spent two in our midst, and the British public has learned to know him well. Nor do we remember n single occasion on which the head of the National Government of New Zealand' has foiled to speak worthily on behalf of the splendid Dominion which sent to Europe nearly 100,000 gallant soldiers, whose war record is surpassed by none. He is a robust Imperialist of a practical tvpe. and he has heartily welcomed the institution of the new Imperial Cabinet which' has come into existence during the war. and which is intended to be the basis of a great Imperial structure.