LAND AND MINERALS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 227, 13 February 1913, Page 8

LAND AND MINERALS.

., MR. BRIGHTON'S VIEW. I AGAINST .V.ii. MASSEY. / (Per Press Association). Invercargill, Last Night. Mr. Jolm Brighton, whose name has been somewhat fre,;ly 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. "I have no properties," said Mr. Brighton. "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 he went on to say that he had no sympathy with the attempt made to manufacture Parliamentary capital out of his lease. "I am certainiy against Mr. Massey in this business," said Mr. Brighton, "because he has parted with the property of the people. T intend to get my , titles, but I do not intend to profit by them. I shah U3e them ..in accordance I with my principles as" a Socialist. 1 '. contend that Mr. Massey has made a » great blunder, but those who are at- . tacking him fail to point out one aspect s f the matter. My leases cover about > h:ilf a square mile, and Jhat is all that l Mr. Massey has parted with. Other Gov- ) ernments with which Mr. Massey had 1 nothing to do have sold eighty square miles of land in my district, and all of - it is coal-bearing—some of it with a ' seam twice the thickness of that in mv ' land—and the bargain was just as bad 5 from the State's point of view. I am against this entirely. I am against Mr. ! Massey for these reasons, but what he L has done is as nothing compared to 1 what has been done by others." ;i - ■