ABSENT MEMBERS WRANGLE

Evening Star, Issue 22577, 19 February 1937, Page 15

ABSENT MEMBERS WRANGLE

MR SEMPLE REITERATES COMPLAINTS SPECIAL BROADSIDE FOR MR HARGEST [Per TJnited Press Association.] QUEENSTOWN, February 18. A reply to statements made by the Leader of the Opposition (Mr Adam Hamilton) and Mr J. Hargest, M.P., the member for Awarua, following his criticism of their absence from their electorates during his visit was made to-day by the Minister of Public Works (Mr Semple). Mr Semple detailed the works which had been commenced in the Southland district since his previous visit 11 months ago, and stated that altogether over £300,000 was likely to be spent in that area, “ Mr Hamilton was advised on January 19 that I was making a tour of Southland, arriving at Invercargill on approximately February 12,” Mr Semple said, “ and was asked to advise, early what business he wished transacted. On February 2, a fortnight later, no reply had been received, and a reminder was sent to Mr Hamilton, when he advised that he would like me to visit Otautau, if not also Tuatapere. Final details of the itinerary were then completed, and on February 5 I advised Mr Hamilton that I would extend my tour and make the whole of Tuesday, February 16, available in his district. I purposely did not in the first instance fix a definite itinerary, as I wished to co-operate with the members as far as possible and transact all the necessary business. My first intention was to meet all deputations in Invercargill, and it was purely on Mr Hamilton’s representation that I visited his district and that I changed my itinerary. Mr Hamilton’s excuse is that the date of the meeting he attended had been fixed three months beforehand. He must, therefore, have known, when he requested me to visit his district, that he would be absent when I arrived. 1 naturally expected, after changing my itinerary to . suit Mr Hamilton, that he would be present during my visit. “ I might also inform Mr Hamilton that both myself and the Minister of Mines (Mr Webb) missed an important caucus meeting and several Cabinet meetings to visit Southland to attend to the needs of the district, Mr Webb’s attention being concentrated on the raining industry. If we could do this, surely Mr Hamilton could at least postpone his meeting. I have no more to say to Mr Hamilton. His reply to my statement was an ineffective attempt to defend himself, but, be it said to his credit, it was not couched in objectionable language.” Referring to Mr Harvest's suggestion that when he (the Minister) visited Southland 11 months ago he made promises which he had not fulfilled, Mr Semple instanced a number of major public works which were to be undertaken in Southland as the result of his last visit. Altogether these would involve an expenditure of over £300,000. “ Mr Hargest refers to me as the political mountebank of the Government, and accuses me of going up arid down this country abusing the Opposition,” the Minister continued. “My reply to that falsehood is that I have never addressed a public meeting in New Zealand since the election, with the exception of two meetings at the Manukau by-election. It is well known that Mr Hargest took a prominent part in that byTelection, for which the Government is grateful, because his efforts added considerably to the crushing majority received by the Labour candidate. It was not until I arrived in Invercargill that I made any reference to the Opposition. Since the by-election I was concentrating upon my job, and had forgotten that the Opposition existed. “ The first thing that prompted me to say one word against the Leader of the Opposition was when I read his public statement in Invercargill that; the people who voted for the Labour Government were irresponsible people who believed in mob rule,” Mr Semple said. “ This was not only an insult to the Government, but an insult to tens of thousands of people who voted against the late Government for no other reason than that they had for the last four years been misled and betrayed by it, and I would not have been human if I had not said something in their defence. I took strong exception, too, to Mr Hargest scuttling from his constituency to a meeting in Wellington to consider ways and means of defeating the present Government, and on his own statment sending a wire to Mr Denham, a supporter of the present Government, to do his work while he was busy undermining the member, along with other members of the ; Government, from whom he had asked this favour. If I was guilty of such conduct, Mr Hargest would not only be entitled to refer to me as a mountebank, but he would certainly be entitled to say that I possessed the conscience of a political impostor. , ; “Mr Hargest seems to feel that I am concerned about his activity in the political arena,” the Minister concluded. “I want to advise him that I am riot a scrap concerned. . He and one or two others in his party are the best political asset the Labour Government has, and I would seriously advise him to increase his activities, if possible. I should be very thankful if he would pay my district a visit. ' There ii one thing I would ask Mr Hargest to do, and that is to give to the public of Southland a comparison between the activities and achievements of the Labour Government in Southland for the 11 months of its administration, as disclosed in my statement, as against the progress made in that district during the six years’ administration of his Government. We could then leave it to the people to judge.”