The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY, WEDNESDAY. OCTOBER 11, 1911. THIS LEADER OF TITO OPPOSITION AND THE HOROWHENUA CHRONICLE.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 11 October 1911, Page 2

The Chronicle. PUBLISHED DAILY, WEDNESDAY. OCTOBER 11, 1911. THIS LEADER OF TITO OPPOSITION AND THE HOROWHENUA CHRONICLE.

Wi'iiu the editor of this journal tli© i Lender of the Opposition—an affliction dcrontly to bo prayed against i ---he would at least cultivate a sense

i of the relative size of things. Wren

Mr Mnssoy, in his speech at Levin i last Monday, attacked the New Zea- > land Times for having specifically . misrepresented him, ]io was on defcnsiblo ground. That journal stands a.s one of New Zealand's prin- ' cipal exponents of Liberal -views, and Mr Masscy's utterances on the endowment land tenure had hoon dealt i with by the Nov.- Zoaland Times that :d:iy. .'But when Mr Massey mouth- ; iiifily declaimed against tihe HoroI whenna Chronicle, merely holding it . up to the ridicule of his'audience ; without giving any specific basis for his assertions, he plainly exhibited

himself as a catspaw used by one or £wo Levin monkeys for paltry private purposes. That is fairly plain speaking about a man in a high position, but we will speak even plainer in future about Mr Massey and his party if occasion needs. The obvious insufficiency of Mr Massey's attacks upon this journal are so apparent in ibis actual utterances that we cannot do better than reprint them from our news columns of yesterday. There is, we know,

a newspaper cult which believes in repressing nny and all comment unfavourable to itself, but that is not our method; w-e have enough sand in our journalistic composition to prorent us from burying our heads in that silicious product and believing ourselves invisible political ostriches. Besides, Mr Mnssoy's comment upon us is so inconsequential and insincere- that we take its very weakness as an excellent advertisement fo<i ourselves. His remarks are appended :— After informing his readers that they had "read in the Chronicle the other day a report of the discussions on the Estimate:! which were in change "of the Hon. Mr McKenzie, Mr Massoy's feelings seemed to cany him away. "Oh, yes!" he declaimed, in a fine plhreaizy of assumed or real indignation, "you will remember having ■seen it in the local "buster" T think you call it the Horowheniia, Chronicle"—(laughter). At this stage Mr Massey , s assumed indignation seemed to get the hotter of flu's periods, and he branched off at a tangent. ( 'oh, yes; it's a very veracious Chronicle: ' he exclaimed. "Iknow it! I know it! lam glad you alj know this Chronicle. It will have something to chronicle to-night!" . . . Mr Massey next read a leading article from the New Zealand Times of 9th October, dealing with ihis statements as to land tenures. ''■ I always like to read the other side," he declaimed, "especially the New Zealand Times and the Horowhenua Chronicle." Mr Massey then remarked that it . was untrue of the Now Zealand Times to quote him as hiaving said he was in favour of giving the lessees of endowment lands tlhe right to purchase at original values. He went on heatedly to say the New Zealand Times had grievously misrepresented him, .and-he quoted irom official records to show that his contention was correct. " I hope the Horowhun.ua Gjroniol© will to-morrow morning. (Laughter). Upon my word, I think T have a better opinion of. your , paper thtn yqu have youraelf 1;T J

am quite certain of this: that the Horowihienua, Chronicle will to-morrow morning place the two extracts—the two paragraphs—in parallel columns—to allow readers of The Chronicle j-«. vend for +;hfimfiel«e.s.. At all events, I know the New Zealand Times won't do itl The statement I have quoted as haying heem made in the New Zealand Times is a gross aaid. deliberate lie! And lam saying that wlhere I have no Parliamentary privileges to protect me. (After a. pause). Or the man who wrote the leading article was ignorant of the position and didn't know what he was talking about!"

Anyone who considers the text above ccivon will notice that the worst thing Mr Massey can charge tus with is the seeming cram<e of being a "buster!" Truly the Leador of the Opposition is a dignified one, and a veritable "well of English undented!" Can any member of that party imagine its former leactar, Sir William Russell, making use of such a oa.nt phrase, from a public platform or elsewhere ? Or for that matter, can anyono conceive of a leader at the head of fl.ny important political party descending to the traducing and. ridiculing oF an upcountry daily newspaper of comparative unimportance wnidhi can secure nothing hut henencial notoriety from his free advertisement of itP For we "are" unimportant! We have no fnlso idea, of where "we" stand in the scheme of things political or social. The editor of this journal gave evidence in a. civil case at Palme rston Supreme Court last August, before the Chief Justice, and when this newspaper's name was mentioned its unaccustomed and unlovely sound grated unfamiliarly upon Sir Robert Stout's ear. "What did you say the paper was called," he asked tho os/imining solicitor. "The Hoi'owhenua Chronicle, your Honour." sunvoly responded counsel. "Oil, , ronmrked Sir Robert, lialfapologeticnlly, ,Mf-explanatorily, "T never hoard of the paper!"

Sir Robert, it will be noticed, is above nil n-truthful man. Mr Massey, wo shrewdly suspect, had a similar lack of knowledge; but unlike the Chief Justice, ho veiled his ignorance. According to him, wo arc a morning newspaper; anrl according to iliim, also, he read—or onr readers saw—in our columns last week a report on the Estimates wliicli as .a matter of fact never ap.pearod in any issue of The Horowhenna Olironicle last week nor any other week or day. These facts may seem inconsequential, but tihoy clearly show to unprejudiced people that Mr Massey is a. pettifogging party politician whose services easily are to be secured for contemptible purposes. Mr Massey had been "briefed" immediately before the mooting to attack The. Horowlienna Chronicle: but be had been briefed so badly that only vague generalities wore available to him. Plainly, to our mind, Mr Massey had been told that this journal was doing harm to his party's candidate for Otaki Electorate, and that the Opposition candidate would bo helped if Mr Massey belittled The Chronicle in tiho eyes of ? Levin audience. Certainly Mr Massey raised some laughtor last Monday evening at our expense, but the bullets he fired were waxen, and his damage unascertainable. And it was a sorry spectacle for ibinkino; men to reflect upon: the aspirant to New Zealand's Premiership descending to traduce an up-country journal of no great importance, for mere purposes of local spite and perhaps personal chagrin. What lrope can the party have which perforce must put its trust in such a leader ?