NO FEAR OF A PANIC

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 133, 8 June 1931, Page 10

NO FEAR OF A PANIC

THE VERONICA AT NAPIER A STATEMENT RESENTED (By Telegraph.—Press Association.) NAPIER, This Day. "I have noticed in the Press a paragraph concerning tho presentation to Commander Morgan, of H.M.S. Veronica, in of the services of himself and his men in Napier during the. earthquake," remarked Mr. W. X Barnard, M.P. for Napier, when speak-ing-in Hastings on Saturday night. "This presentation was made by the Governor-General (Lord Bledisloc), and, according to the paragraph, Lord Blcdisloe made the statement that but for the presence and'-tho-prompt action of the commander and his men there would have been a serious panic in Napier. Now I want to say hero that that remark is overstated." ,A voice: "I think so, too." Mr. Barnard: "I am quite satisfied that there would have been no panic in Napier, even if tho Veronica had not been there." A voice: "Or anywhere else." ■ Mr. Barnard: "You must remember that Napier was a town of 16,000 inhabitants at that time, and tho total number of men on tho Veronica was not more than a hundred. All of thoso hundred wero not in town, for obviously some men had to stay on the ship, so to say that but for the presence ,of 60 or 70 men there would have been a panic is quite untrue. I have no intention of belittling tho extremely fine work done by the men of the Veronica, also tho Diomedo and Dunedin, but I want to say that the peop]o ( of Napier stood up to that tragic disaster in a most remarkable way, and in a manner which has ..reflected the greatest credit' on them. I take this first opportunity of saying that there would have been no panic in Napier, even if tho men of tho Veronica had not been there, and tho moro one thinks of that disaster, the more one feels.reason to bo proud to be a New Zealander, and, in particular, to be a resident of Hawkcs Bay."