“THE DIVIDEND KINGS”

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22659, 14 March 1939, Page 9

“THE DIVIDEND KINGS”

REPLY TO LEADER 05? OPPOSITION EXPLANATION BY MR SEMPLE REFERENCE TO BUILDING SUBSIDIES “I notice that the Hon. Adam Ham» ilton has fired his gun at me again; and again he is firing with blank cartridges,” said the Minister for Public Works, the Hon. R. Semple, in a reply he made yesterday to “The Press,” to remarks of the Leader of the Opposition. Mr Hamilton, in a statement in "The Press” yesterday from Wellington, accused Mr Semple of “working up agitation against an imaginary person called the ‘dividend king’.” “Really, I believe that the Prime Minister is able to answer any ques- ■ tion Mr Hamilton cares to raise,” the Minister said. “Mr Savage can give Mr Hamilton all he . asks- for. But I see that he has dragged me into the debate now. I have been too busy to worry about Mr Hamilton or the dividend kings. But now I wonder just whom he is referring to when ho talks about my attack on the dividend kings. I wonder if he is referring to my attack on the Southland Frozen Meat Company, which paid 33i per cent, in dividends r.nd placed £40,000 to reserve, and in the same year (during the depression) took a subsidy from the employment funds, virtually out of the penny boxes of the poor, for a building at their Mataura works.

“Mr Hamilton is personally familiar with this charitable act by the South* land Frozen Meat Company. Possibly he has not forgotten my exposure of his part in the business in Parliament and ou the public platform. Possibly, too, when he attacks me for my reference to dividend kings, he is thinkin? of the Waihi Gold Mining Company, which, having paid. £9,000,000 in (dividends, and mined under conditions - which sent' many young miners to their graves, from the dread miner's disease, by a clever bit of trickery defeated the law and dodged the payment of £40,000 income tax. It was not until Labour took office, made the discovery, and amended the law, with retrospective action that we were able to get the company to make payment. Now Mr Hamilton’s party bitterly opposed the bill ■ enforcing this payment. 'Hie attack on the Minister for Finance, the Hon. W. Nash, was led by the former Minister for Finance, the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates, and supported by the rest of Mr Hamilton’s party in the House. “Plea of Guilty” “If this is the type of dividend king that Mr Hamilton accuses me of attacking, I certainly plead guilty. I would not be doing my duty by the public if I did not expose them. But * I know that Mr Hamilton has a soft spot in his heart for this type of man. I can only remind Mr Hamilton that the public knows this, and -that the public will be the judge. In his complaint, Mr Hamilton also says that the supporters of the Labour Party do not stop to think. Before the elections he stated that they did not think at aIL He even suggested that under Laibour the moral fibre of the nation would go; that we would burgle the savings of the people, wreck home life, and destroy the character of the nation generally. "Next Time" “Mr Hamilton now says that the supporters of the Labour Party do not stop to think, even. But they stopped long enough to put his supporters in their proper place. And next time they will do the same thing. They will think back about the dividend kings of the type Mr Hamilton defends and associates with, and make their decision. I should also remind the people that I took strong execution to Mr Hamilton giving a subsidy to the Prudential Insurance Company for a new building in Wellington. at a time when the poor were starving. That is the type of dividend king I am going for. I have never said a word against any person getting a fair return for his money. I could not possibly class a man such as Lord Nuffield among the class of dividend kings. He is a millionaire, but he has handed his wealth back to the people and the nation with rich men of his type possesses a great asset. But the men who grind out the’ money from the poor and then try to dodge taxation i the type of man supported by Mr Hamilton and his party) are the men I am referring to in my attack on the dividend kings.”