Laughing Man

At Wellington, capital of far-off New Zealand, Death came to William Ferguson Massey, for close on 13 years Prime Minister. He was a laughing man--one of the most genial that ever entered the public life of that Dominion. Mr. Massey was born at Limavady, County Derry, Ireland, 69 years ago; and at the age of 14 went to rejoin his parents in New Zealand, where they had moved eight years before. The embryo statesman became a farmer and, more to the point, a prosperous farmer. He entered Parliament in 1894, the next year becoming Chief Opposition Whip, a position which he held for eight years, when he became leader of his party and, nine years after, Premier of the Government. He was the last of the War Premiers to relinquish office, although he more than once came within fair distance of doing so, owing to an unstable parliamentary situation. Newspapers averred that Mr. Massey was a strong admirer of President Coolidge. They met in 1923 at Washington. He was also an admirer of Abraham Lincoln, many of whose speeches, particularly his Gettysburg address, he had committed to memory. He was noted in New Zealand for his extraordinary courage, his able, if not brilliant, leadership. It was largely through him that the present Reform Party, which has a relative majority over the other parties, survived its earlier vicissitudes. He was a convinced imperialist--the man who urged the Allies to deprive Germany of the Samoa Islands, whose voice was loud in the councils of the Commonwealth.