MR. SEMPLE AND MINISTERS

Greymouth Evening Star, 17 February 1937, Page 5

MR. SEMPLE AND MINISTERS

MR HAMILTON’S EXPLANATION. [PEE PEEBB ASSOCIATION.] MASTERTON, February 16. A brief reply to the complaint by Hon. R. Semple (Minister for Public Works) that he had been snubbed by the member for Wallace (Hon. Adam Hamilton), who was not present when the Minister visited Wallace electorate, was made by Mr Hamilton, in an interview to-day.

“The main answer to the Minister’s complaint,” said Mr Hamilton, “is that Mr Semple changed his itinerary after his first intimation to me, and after- I had left Invercargill. Mr Semple’s initial intimation to me was that when in Southland, he was not going to visit my electorate, and I arranged, accordingly, for deputations from my electorate to wait upon him in Invercargill. At the same time 1 informed him that my electorate, desired that he pay it a visit. I thank him for agreeing to this suggested change, but it was not till I got to Wellington that. I learned that he had agreed to spend a day in the Wallace, electorate. I immediately wired urgently and arranged an itinerary for him through Wallace. “If he feels slighted by my absence I regret it, because there was no slight intended. Had I known at the beginning that he was going to visit my electorate, I might have been able to"fit in my arrangements to suit,” Mr Hamilton said. “I would like to remind the Minister that we have to make our arrangements ahead as well as'he has. I would say further, that I have had the privilege and pleasure of accompanying two Ministers, Mrl Webb and Mr Fraser, through my electorate, when an arrangement was made which was mutually satisfactory. On this occasion, unfortunately, I had other arrangements that I could not easily alter. Mr Semple says it is his first experience of this kind, but it is possible that he may have similar experiences in the future through no fault or desire of the member who is absent. I would much like to have been present to introduce and explain the objects of the deputations, but I am well aware that the deputations can well put their case, and I have no doubt that they will treat the Minister with every courtesy and consideration while he is journeying through Wallace.” MR. HARGEST’S REPLY. INVERCARGILL, February 16. “Mr. Semple has evidently tired of acting as a kind of Mountebank to the Ministry and now seeks further notoriety by castigating the leader of the Opposition and myself for imagined snubs,” said Mr. J. Hargest, in a statement to-night replying to Hon. R. Semple’s criticism of his absence from his electorate, Awarua, during the Minister’s visit. “It should be unnecessary 'for me to say that no snub was intended.” said Mr. Hargest. “The date of the quarterly meeting of the executive of the National Party was arranged as far back as November, and when I found that the meeting clashed with Mr. Semple's visit I wrote to him expressing my regret that I would not be able to accompany him to Stewart Island. I set out the requirements of the deputations there, and the names of the spokesmen, and my views on each case. This was to give him an opportunity to consult his departmental officers and so enable him to give an intelligent reply. Any person with the first instincts of manliness would have accepted my explanation, am not behaved like a petulant child.

When it became impossible for me to attend at Invercargill, I telegraphed Mr. W. M. C. Denham, M.P., asking him to take my three deputations, and also telegraphed the leaders of those deputations. I could not. do more. ' ‘ ‘ t “The Minister's references to the duties of members leave me cold. I do not accept reproof from a man whose conception of duty is to race up and down the Dominion hurling vituperation at his political opponents in a way undreamed of by his predecessors of any party. I may inform him that a member’s duties do not begin and end with receiving Ministers of the Crown, and that while in Wellington coincidentally with taking a share in a very important conference, I was able to perform some service to a considerable number of my constituents. So long as Mr. Semple is Minister and I am a member of Parliament I will be glad to meet him in my electorate with all the courtesy I command, provided there is nothing more important to occupy my attention, but no amount of bombast or bathos on his part will persuade meto submit to his dictation.” NATIONAL PARTY WELLINGTON, February 17. Speaking along the lines of his Martinborough address, Mr._ Hamilton, Leader of the met members and supporters of the National Party in the four Wellington electorates. ‘ Mr. Hamilton made a further appeal for a united Opposition, and he spoke also: on the monetary system, the Government’s housing policy, and the Church and totalitarian State. He was accorded an enthusiastic reception, and at the conclusion of the speech, a motion was carried unanimously, expressing confidence in the Party, and loyalty to Mr. Hamilton as leader.