POLITICAL POSSIBILITIES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8440, 14 May 1907, Page 5

POLITICAL POSSIBILITIES.

THE APPROACHING SESSION. MR MASSEY'S VIEWS. In an interview with a Christchurch Press reporter, Mr Leader of the Opposition, was asked: "Do you think the- Land Bill will be gone on with?" "I am not in ,the confidence of the Government," replied Mr Massey, "as you can understand, and I can only go on the statement mado by Ministers that the Bill will be proceeded with, and that its main provisions will be adhered to. They have pledged themselves to stand or fall by the Bill. If a majority of members support them in regard to the measure—well, perhaps, so much the better for the members of the Government, but so much the worse for the country. On the other hand, if they are pot able to place the Bill upon the statute book, then the proper course for them to take is what any self-respecting Government would do under the circumstances, viz., either resign or appeal to the country. "What is your opinion with respect to the business to come on at the approaching session of Parliament?" "There is a very great deal of important business waiting to be done. The revision of the Customs tariff requires to be undertaken, as there are at present a great many anomalies which cause annoyance to business men and the mercantile} community generally, and Parliament [should be given an opportunity of putting these matters right. In view of the fact that the Treasurer has been able to announce a very substantial I think that something should be done in the way of removing some [of the duties from the necessaries of life and so reducing the cost of living to many of the people of the colony. Then there is the native land question, which according to my way of thinking is a long way the most important question at present requiring solution. It seems to me to be positively absurd to interfere with European settlers who may be making good use of their land, while we have, according to the official records, millions of acres of native land lying idle and waiting for settlers, either native or European, to be given an opportunity of occupying them.y. I feel very strongly about this matter, and I am of opinion that if the Government does not tackle it and make some far more satisfactory arrangement than that which at present exists, it is not worthy of t the position which-it occupies. "Then there is the long-promised Local Government Bill, which I suppose will be introduced again, and at the end of the session will be numbered amongst the slaughtered innocents. In this respect reform is very much required, as, if the colony is to prosper and progress in way we desire, then great improvements will have to be made in the means of communication both by roads and railways, and the local governing bodies will have to be placed in a very much better position, so far as finance is concerned, than that which they occupy at present. I have not much hope' of a [great deal being done in this respect, as I am inclined to think that the men at the head of affairs have not a grasp of the difficulties of the settlers in the out-districts."