An Explanation

Dominion, Volume 25, Issue 171, 15 April 1932, Page 13

An Explanation

Sir, —bn March 10 last Mr. H. G. Dickie, member for Patea, speaking in the Lower House on the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Amendment Bill, made the following statement concerning me: “That man was brought before the court for paying his employees less than award rates; yet he gets the official seal of the Labour Party when he stands for Parliament.” This statement duly appeared in Hansard, volume 2, page 381, and in view of the publicity afforded it I have felt constrained to demand from Mr. Dickie a public withdrawal and apology in respect to this statement, and, further, to make the true position of the matter public. The fact of the matter is that I have never, either in or out of court, been accused of paying my employees less than award rates. On the only occasion on which I have been before the court I was charged with failing to notify the union secretary that I had engaged an employee, which notice I was required by the award to forward. It was this failure to comply with a mere legal technicality that Mr. Dickie now endeavours to construe as a charge of underpaying my employees—surely a ridiculous position for a responsible representative of the district to place himself in. . . . This letter, Mr. Editor, will make the true position abundantly clear to your readers, aud I trust that in common fairness to myself and in justice to the Labour Party whose actions I feel constrained to vindicate, you will accord publicity to my side of the matter. —I am, etc., W. G. SIMPSON. April 11.