THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1908. THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9058, 18 February 1908, Page 4

THE Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1908. THE LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION.

The Leader of the Opposition, Mr W. F. Massey, was on Saturday last paid a high compliment by his constituents at Franklin, when 4,000 admirers gathered at a garden party to give him tangible recognition of their appreciation of his services. The speeches made on the occasion have been much curtailed by the Press Association, but it is a significant fact that while that mes?ag9 covered two and a-half columns of print, in the Government organ in Wellington the "New Zealand Times"—cut the whole report down to ten lines. This fact carries its own comment. Mr Massey did not deal with Sir Joseph Ward's policy speech, preferring a more fitting occasion for'the purpose; but touched mainly upon the socialistic tendencies of the day, and uttered a warning against them. The demand that the people should be divided into two classes —tenants of the Crown and Civil Servants—was, he said, being made by a party more numerous and better organised than the people of New Zealand believed. The question was not only one of the future, but one of the present. This being so, he called upon the supporters of his party to be prepared for the coming struggle against the forces allied against them. They should insist upon every candidate at

the next election giving a clear ex-

pression of his views, upon these, questions, and then the responsibility . would rest with the electors of saying | whether the present state of affairs should be allowed to continue which permitted full scope for the energy and enterprise of the individual, or whether a state of things should be allowed which would cripple industry and hamper enterprise. There is one thing in common with the two political leaders; both profess to want this country to become the happiest and most glorious on this planet. The Opposition Leader's desire is as sincere as the Premier's, but something more than wishes and words are required to brsiniz about the desideratum. The present Administration and its immediate predecessors have between them had opportunities to achieve something towards the end alleged to be in view, but we are not appreciably nearer the millenium than when Mr Ballance left the reins of Government to Mr Seddon. Whether Mr Massey, if he attained to power, would be much more successful has yet to be ascertained, but it seems likely that the biblical millenium will have been reached before he has a chance of trying his hand at making an earthly Paradise of New Zealand. He is too heavily handicapped by circumstances. Meanwhile the Leader of the Opposition must rest content with doing good work as a politicalbrake when the socialistic tendencies of the Ministry run away with its discretion.