PUBLIC WORKS MEN

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 128, 26 November 1938, Page 11

PUBLIC WORKS MEN

ALLEGATION DENIED

NOT USED FOR POLITICAL PURPOSES

"I will defy Mr. Broadfoot, or any other opponent of this Government, to say that we have transferred one man in any part of this country for political purposes," said the Minister of Public Works (the Hon. R. Semple), when referring to a reported statement made by Mr. W. J. Broadfoot, M.P. for Waitomo, to the effect that "between 2500 and 3000 men, costing the country £10,000 a week, were sent along to my electorate for a while— put there by the man who the other day said he was custodian of the nation's purse." Mr. Semple said that the statement as reported was wilful misrepresentation, and the "gentleman who made it should not descend to such depths." The facts were, said the Minister, that in April this year there were 1163 men in the Waitomo electorate, including local body men. At October 14, 1938, two days before the election, there were 1129 men. The number had actually come down.

"These men have been employed on work that was asked for by the county and by Mr. Broadfoot himself," he continued. "He has been one of the most consistent advocates for work to be done in his district. And when we comply with the requests of the county and Mr. Broadfoot for better access roads for farmers and highways for the travelling public, Mr. Broadfoot, for political purposes, wilfully misrepresents the position. As an explanation of his narrow escape from, political disaster, he says that I sent 2500 men at a cost of £10,000 a week purposely to get him out of Parliament. Ido not put that value on Mr. Broadfoot's political scalp. As much as I think he deserves the political scrap heap, I would not spend a penny to defeat him. That will come in due course." .