THAT COAL LEASE

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 8353, 13 February 1913, Page 7

THAT COAL LEASE

HOW MR BRIGHTON VIEWS THE MATTER. Press Association. INVERCARGILL, February 12. Mr Gavin Brighton, whoso name has been somewhat freely used in connection with the much-discussed Southland leases, called at the “Southland Times” office and complained that certain newspapers had used his name in a way that was not warranted. tr l have no politics/* said. Mr Bnghton; “I have never yet voted at a political election, and, I don t intend tO Mr Brighton appeared to take the view that one Government was as bad as another, but ho went on to say that ho had no sympathy with the attempt made to manufacture Parliamentary capital out of his lease. . “I am certainly against Mr Massey in this business,” said Mr Brighton, “because he has parted with the property of tho people. I intend to get my titles, but I do .not profit by them. I shall use them in accordance with my principles as a Socialist. I contend that Mr Massey has made a great blunder, but those who are attacking him fail to point out one aspect of the matter. My leases cover about half a square mile, and that is all that Mr Massey has parted with. Other Governments, with which Mr Massey has had nothing to do,_ have sold eighty square miles of land in. my district, and all of it coal-bearing, some of it with a seam twice the thickness of that in my land, and the bargain was just as bad from the State’s point of view. lam against this entirely. lam against Mr Massey for these reasons, but what he has done is as nothing compared to what has been done by others.”