"NO APOLOGIES"

Evening Post, Volume CXXXII, Issue 134, 3 December 1941, Page 11

"NO APOLOGIES"

SERVICE IN LAST WAR

MR. SEMPLE SPEAKS

(0.C.) WESTPORT, December 2. "I don't belong to the apologetic type of individual, and consequently I have not come here tonight to apologise to anybody in Westport or anywhere else for any of my public deeds in the past, or for anything I have said or done," said the Minister of National Service (Mr. Semple) at a public meeting last night, when his attitude in the last war and the present conflict was the subject of interjections. Mr. Semple and the Minister ofj Labour (Mr. W&bb) were given an ex- j ' cellent hearing when they spoke on the war effort and war aims. Mr. Webb was referring to Mr. Sernple's work for New Zealand, and the fact that his two married sons were " overseas, when a woman asked: "What 'about yourself?" - Mr. Webb said he .would like to say something about himself, and when the woman, said "Yes?" a call for her ejection was made by several men. TRIBUTE TO MR. SEMPLE. "No. That would be the Nazi way of doing things," said Mr. Webb. "1; am sure she is not responsible for. what she says. Bob Semple has probably \ done more for the lady interjector and her husband, who, perhaps, was on relief work, and more for Westport, j the Buller, and New Zealand than any | other man in the country. When the | rottenest job had to be done—national | service—we gave it to Bob Semple." A man: You made a mistake there, j Paddy. i j The country, said Mr. Webb, did no.t j have another man who could do the job of organising the Home Guard and other services as well as Mr. Semple. j Before Mr. Semple spoke, the Mayor j (Mr. J. M. Robertson), who presided,! ' said these interjections were not war-! ranted, and they were not very nice. It was no good recalling things that had gone. Every man was entitled to change his opinions. "I don't belong to the apologetic type of individual, and consequently I have not come here tonight to apologise to anybody in Westport or anywhere else for any of my public deeds in the past, or for anything I have said or done," replied Mr. Semple. "THAT CACKLING VOICE." When the woman again interjected, Mr. Semple exclaimed: "I don't want to hear that cackling voice and the jarring of that squeaky sub-human noise. I've heard it too often in the zoo. If anybody has come here tonight to take a fall out of Bob Semple I am ready." His opinion on war would never change. He had always been an implacable foe of war, to which any man with a human heart and Christian feelings was opposed. The first line of preservation was self-defence, and there was no escape from this war. Hitler's bloodthirsty gangsters had decided to fight for world domination. He had always preached peace, but never the folded arms policy. It was not his nature to be a pacifist. A man: Why did you not fight? TWICE VOLUNTEERED. "You are a contemptible liar and a ■white-livered coward," retorted Mr. Semple, who emphatically declared that he had not refused to fight in the { last war, and in this war he had twice | volunteered for construction work, j Labour fought war profiteering in the | last war, and demanded that if there j was conscription of men, conscription < of wealth should be made. A man: Why don't you conscript it today? "This is nothing but an exhibition of compound stupidity," replied the Minister. "He opens his mouth to cackle, and the wind blows his tongue around. Taxation is up to 17s 6d in; the £. If we did that to you, you j would squeal like a rabbit with your tail jammed. Companies with £10,000 profit are paying £6500 in taxation, ten times more than in the last war. Oh, •■ you poor mutt, you should go home j and read. If you are as lip.ht. below, the shoulders as you are above, you can j .9y home." I