MR. SEMPLE.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 54, 5 March 1937, Page 6

MR. SEMPLE.

A Minister of the Crown who goes about the country making statements of the kind which the public has come to expect (though with diminishing enjoyment) from Mr. Semple need not be surprised if he provokes rejoinders. But perhaps Mr. Semple would be surprised, and disappointed, if he did not strike off a few sparks somewhere. The public, however, has eome to the point of wondering why a busy Minister-should so waste his time. Mr. Semple is a vigorous force in the Government, he has done useful work, and he has more to do. Many people who oppose him in politics have felt grateful to him for devoting part of his energy and vehemence to the campaign to reduce the toll of human life on the roads. He has gained himself the reputation of a man who, in his field of knowledge, knows that of which he speaks, and means what he says. Such a reputation is valuable in any sphere of life, but Mr. Semple himself is depreciating its value by occasionally talking loudly and violently on subjects far outside his field of knowledge. The spectacle of a Minister of the Crown denouncing bankers in extravagant language and in irrelevant circumstances, and then finding himself obliged to explain what he did or did not mean, and finally declaring his intolerance of natural and legitimate criticism, must make anybody wonder whether there are not serious gaps in his armour of common sense.