The Daily News. FRIDAY, MARCH 14, 1913. A POLICY SPEECH.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 252, 14 March 1913, Page 4

The Daily News. FRIDAY, MARCH 14, 1913. A POLICY SPEECH.

JI was impossible, of course, in view of the extraordinarily meagre and attenuated report of the Prime Minister's speech at Christcliurch forwarded by tlie Press Association, to comment previously upon wliat .Mr. Massey bad to say. The message was devoted almost entirely to a picturesque description of the interruptions that appear to have punctuated Mr. Massey's speech with undue vehemence. Christcliurelx lias not got a very savoury reputation for the manner in which it treats public speakers, and Mr. Massey probably had a \ivid recollection when he faced the audience of a previous occasion, when the electors of the City of the Plains point blank refused to listen to him until he apologised or -explained bis references in Parliament disparaging the conduct of the late Mr. T. E. Taylor. Now that the Chi istchurch papers have arrived, however, we are very little further forward than we were with the telegraphed report. The speech, so far as "policy" is concerned, was as imma-

ture an ellort as we ever remember a public man of any repute to have been guilty of. "Lull of sound ami fury, signifying nothing." it completely justified the historical reference to the performance of Hamlet minus the Prince of Denmark. Of coarse, having only been eight months in office, the Reform Party, as an administrative body, has very little past to condone or approve, | and while it must be admitted that its [administration has been admirable during that period, when the Prime Minister so valiantly announced that he intended

to deliver ii "policy'' speech, wo natur

ally looked for some indication as to (lie future intentions of tho Government. Mr. Massi'.v was discreetly silent to a great extent upon this point, confining himself to distinctly nebulous' generalities. He had plenty to say upon the subject of the successful flotation of the loan am! a somewhat invidious comparison of the cost of previous loans, a comparison which obviously has no connection whatever with general politics, | bul is dependent, soblv upon the state of the money market and (he whim or judgment of individual investors. The la.nd <|i!c>iioii. of coiii>e. has been practically settled mi far as (lie Government is concerned, except" for finding land for the clamoring landless, and we have only to await certain details of administration which are to be embodied in a Hill next session, and there was no necessity for Mr. Massey to enlarge upon these. But we certainly should have liked to hear something definite about the Government's intentions with regard to electoral reform. the critical condition of the labor laws, licensing prospects, and several social subjects that are calling for immediate reform. Upon none of these poi nts did Mr. Massey give us any elucidation. and his speech was more in the nature of a mild political review and a summary of "something attempted, something done,'' than an indication of the intentions of the Government which he is privileged to lead. In view of the fuller reports of his speech published by the Christ church papers, we are almost prepared to accept the colorless report of the Press Association as representing its value more adequately than it appeared to do at lirst sight. If Mr. Massey gave Chri-tchuvch of his best in what 'he deliberately announced was to be a ''policy speech."' we can only be, content to wonder at the anioont of emphasis he laid upon the ''speech" and how little upon the "policy.''