AFTER THE ELECTIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 148, 19 December 1911, Page 8

AFTER THE ELECTIONS.

SYDNEY PRESS COMMENT. By Cable—Press Association—Copyright. Sydney, December 18. The Telegraph, commenting, on the New Zealand l political situation, says:— "It exceeds any margin an elastic imagination could have allowed for. It looks as though the people want a change, but it is not quite certain in what direction. Unless a way to a workmanlike solution of the problem can be found by a combination of the main parties, leaving the dissidient elements >to crystallise into an opposition, the unattached sections may exercise a dangerous influence." THE PARNELL SEAT. ! By Telegraph—Press Association. Auckland, Last Night. A reporter has been informed to-night that Mr. Payne's majority in the Grey Lynn contest is 38. The totai will be available to-mion-ow. ! THE WAIRARAPA SEAT. ! Caa-terton, Monday. The recount for the Wairarapa electorate was completed this morning. The figures are: Buchanan 2950, Ilornsby 2825, Tanner 88, .informal 91. The votes ' polled for continuance were 332.1, noLicense 2511, informal 92. The votes ' polled for national prohibition were 2794, against national prohibition 2902, in- > formal 257. ' SIR JOHN FINDLAY RETURNS T0 ( | WORK. 1 Wellington, Monday. ' Sir John Findky to-day handed in his ' resignation as Attorney-General and 'i Minister of Justice. ' j Speaking to a Poat reporter, Sir John | Findky said he intended to practise his 1 [ profession as soon as the legal vacation I was over. He wouldi thereafter devote i himself exclusively to professional work. LABOR MEMBERS CONGRATULATED. ' ' Palmerston N'., Monday. The local :bnanch of the Associated ! Society of Railway Servants passed a •, resolution congratulating the Labor mem- . hers on their Teturn to Parliament. i SIR JOHN FINDLAY. j Discussing the Parnell campaign with ' an interviewer, Sir John Findlay pointed I out that die polled 3800 votes, or more than any man who succeeded in any of the Wellington seats, and this against the big fight put up by the Oppositionist. "Mr. Massey spoke six times in the elec- ; torate during the few days preceding the j first ballot and the interval between first j and second- polls. He made a direct appeal to the electors, not so much to vote for Mr. Dickson as to vote for himself. He practically lived in the electorate, using every means and influence to keep r me out of public life. It was the highest ' compliment the Opposition could pos- ' sibly pay me that, while many seats sad- [ ly needed his assistance, Mr. Massey found me important enough to concentrate his time and attention upon: me, j and also to invoke the aid of Mr. Mander' } against me. I haxl not only to fight Mr. Dickson, who has Jived twenty-six years in the electorate, and tire weight of the , Opposition, its leader and all, but the sectarian cry was raised and pushed to such 'a degree that it was a disgrace to any enlightened constituency. So persistent and organised was this sectarian cry that I was finally forced to deal with it from/ the platform. It was not merely ; street-corner gossip; it was by diligently "! and deliberately organised means circuJ J lated from house to house by personal I canvass." l AS POLITICIAN AND MAN. *! It is now just oveir 41 years (says th» Auckland Herald) since there stepped ashore ait Auckland from an English passenger ship a lad of fourteen years, fresh from school in his native town in Ireland, full of boyish hopes, and fired with all the eager 'emthusiasm that the romance of commencing life in the then comparatively little-known colony naturally awakened in his youthful mind. William Ferguson' Massey, for such was the boy's name, had just left behind him thia land of his birth and the home of his fathers in order to rejoin his > pareaits, who, in the early sixties, had • | come out from the Emerald Isle to Auck- ' land' in order to carve out for them- ' selves and their children a new home in , a new land. The educational facilities in ■ New Zeajland in those days, unlike those i of to-day, were very restricted, and Mr. i and Mrs. Massey had left their son. with ' relatives in Londonderry in order that 1 he might receive his education there.

a the year 1870, .the tubjcot of the present sketch, having completed his studies, came out to join his family. The Auckland; district lias been his home from then, until the present time, and neither he nor lib adopted land has had reason to regret it. ENTRY INTO POLITICAL LIFE.

The immigrant lad lived' with his late parents, who were farming—first at Tamaki West, and soon afterwards at Mangere. Here the boy developed into the youth, and in due course rose to man's estate. First as the energetic young' settler, and again as the ardent student of public 'aflairs, serving his political apprenticeship on various local bodies, W. I<\ Massey 'became known and .respected by those amongst whom he lived, and labored as one of tluei best types of the sturdy, industrious and successful colonists. Thus honored by the esteem and confidence of his follows, his horizon of thought soon began to extend. I i'Julov.ed with a natural energy and a due .share, of that ambition that characterises the man of brains and a capacity for using them, Mr. Massey's sphere of usefulness was not lontg confined by the narrow borders of parochial polities. Tim:-, «, few years later, we behold him, with his political vision and aspirations broadening out, seeking a voice in the councils of the State. At the first attempt, in 1893, wlxen. he first contested the -Firanklin scat against Major liarris, fortune did not attend upon him, but at the second effort well-earned victory, after a hard-fouglvt light, was his, and thus in 1894 he made his appearaace into the political arena as the chosen of the electors of Waitemata. A HISTORIC TELEGRAM. "Anything noteworthy in connection with my entry into Parliament? Yes, there was something that I well (remember," said Mr. Massey, in the course of a recent chat with the present writer, "ft was harvest time, in ISO 4, when the Waitemata mat became vacant. I was ia my

stackyard building a cornstalk when a telegraph messenger came along with a telegram. The stack was some height from the ground) and the message was handed up to me on one of the prongs of a pitchfork by the driver of the waggon that was being unloaded at the stack." Tliis telegram, which deserves to Veoome historic, but which unhappily was not preserved, contained a request from a number of Waitemata electors that Mr. i Massey would meet them on the following day for the purpose of receiving a request to contest the seat. "I met the men the following day as requested!," the Leader of the Reform Party proceeded, "and I consented to acoeide to the request. After a keen fight —the late Premier (Mr. Seddon) and the Native Minister (Mr. James Carroll) stumped the electorate in favor of the Government nominee—-Mr. Massey was returned. Three years laiter he was elected for Franklin, against his former opponent, Major Harris. He is still member for 'Franklin, and as shown 'by his large majority at last week's poll, he enjoys the confidence of his constituents in more than an ordinary degree. [ A CAREER OF HARD WORK. Mr. Massey'a political career has been | one of hard work, of faithful service in the cause of his constituents and country. .For nearly 18 years a member of the House of Representatives, for several! years the chief Whip of his party, and for the past eight yearns Leader of the' Opposition, he has been always a promin-, ent, and of late years a foremost, figure in the political arena. As Leader of the Opposition (to which position hj» was elected in 1903), Mr. Massey has carried out the duties of an onerous and ofttimes thankless position with an indefatigable aeal and' industry that haa characterised liim in his private walks ' of life. The leadter of the party in opposition must be ever on the alert, ready for new Government Bills, Ministerial statements, or enunciations of policy in whatever form they may be presented. He cannot when some new move may be made, and if he is faithful to his tar-ust he must .be ready to examine, and, if meed be, to criticise any new proposal brought forward. He cannot absent himself for any lengthy period from his seat, for he knoweth not the hour nor the day when hia time cometh. Eternal vigilance, in short, is a necessary qualification for the leadership of an Opposition, and in Mr. Massey the Reform party in New Zealand has a leader who possesses ithis great quality. A necessary corollary is a good' physical constitution, and here again the condition it not lacking. The strong, vigorous form of the member for Franklin has always arrested attention as he has sat, (through many a weary session, in his place in the House, with the Prime Minister as his visi-a-vis. One of the first to enter and one of the last to leave the Chamber, he has earned a reputation for unflagging industry that is recognised by members on all sides- of the House. LOOKING TO THE FUTURE. It is, of course, only as Leader of the Opposition, that Mr. Massey as as yet known to political fame. If, ias now seeims almost certain, he will shortly appear in the even more important olid responsible position of Prime Minister—the highest post in the gift of the people —he will no doubt he able to fill the position with honor to himself and credit to his party and' his country. His policy, as he has stedfastly declared, is thaJt of true, progressive Liberalism, and these are the principles on which he will build his policy if he is given the opportunity of carrying them into administrative effect as the leader of the Reform Government. He has fought long and valiantly for his ideals, and the reward that now appears to be within his grasp is a fitting consummation of good and faithful service. A "SON OF THE SOIL." A 1 true "son of the soil"—his fare-; fathers were farmers in County Derryi for (generations back—Mr. Massey has identified l himself with agricultural pursuits from his first arrival in New Zealand. For some years past he has been one of the most prosperous fanners at Mangere, where he is the owner of a farm containing some of the best land in that fertile district. As a practical agrici, mist, and one well versed in all the po . ds connected with the successful tilliii; '>f the soil, Mr. ..jissey, the farmer, is as well known in his district as Mr. Massey, the politician, is (known in the wider circle of national affairs. Bluff and hearty, thick-set, and broadshouldiered, of massive brow, open and' earnest in countenance, big-brained, as well as bigibodied, William Ferguson Massey is a man among men in whataree capacity he may be found. The good old North of Ireland grit—determination and perseverance^makes its presence felt. A close thiinker and a hard worker—one who (will not allow small difficulties to standi in his way, but none the less a man of worthy ideate and high principles, of unimpeachable honor in public as- id private life—he is of the type of public men that a country stands most in need of. i : I