Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 1911. THE OPPOSITION.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 10199, 29 March 1911, Page 4

Wairarapa Age MORNING DAILY. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 29, 1911. THE OPPOSITION.

Mr W. F. Massey, Leader of tho Opposition, is adopting a method which is at once calculated to enlist the sympathy of the electors. He is going from district to district, enlightening the people upon tho sins of omission and 1 commission of the Government, and suggesting certain reforms which, if carried into- effect, would have a potent influence in establishing confidence in the Dominion. The very strongest supporters of the Liberal Party have been forced to recognise the statesmanlike qualities of Mr Massey. The Lyttelton Times, referring to' a. speech made at Kaiapoi, says:—"Ms Massey may be warmly congratulated upon the manner of the speech he delivered at Kaiapoi last night. Those of his audience who remembered his first appearance • on the same platform seven years ago must have been impressed by the vast improvement he had made as a public

speaker in the interval. At times i he rose almost to the heights of oratory, and he never fell to .tlie depths j of mere talk. Me was concise, some- ] times incisive, always lucid, and occasionally effective, even from the party point of view. Taken altogether, his speech was easily the best presentation of the case for the Opposition that we have yet had, in Canterbury, and wo can heartily join with his more effusive friends in hoping that io will be repeated in the more populous parts of the province before the conclusion of his electioneering campaign. Such good material should not be wasted in a forlorn attempt to oust one of the most popular ' country members of the present House of Representatives. The" leader of the' Opposition, to do him justice, does not trim his party sails to catch every passing breeze of public opinion, and apart from the altered time and altered circumstances there is no great ditfj erence between his political platform I of 1911. and his political platform of . 1901. ~ . . I'or the rest -we are 1 very glad•to see the leader of the Opposition in ■. Canterbury again, .helping on the cause- of* Liberalism,; as he would say himself, and we are sure that however much the people may differ from him politically they will have nothing but cordial appreciation for his qualities as a man."