FLAT DENIAL

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22578, 17 November 1936, Page 8

FLAT DENIAL

SONS OF MINISTERS. MR. SEMPLE'S ATTITUDE ! fi RETORT BY MR. HOLLAND 1 [by telegraph—press ASSOCIATION-] I CHRISSTCHUROH, Monday A denial of a statement by ' th< | Minister of Transport, the Hon. Seinple, was made to-day by Mr. S. G I Holland, M.P. for Cliristchurch North' When accepting full responsibility f o j the appointment of Mr. A. E. rm< strong, a son of the Minister of Labour the Hon. H. T. Armstrong, to a p os i! tion in the railway construction works at Parnassus, Mr. Seinplo was reported to have said: " The rules of the House 1 would not permit me to Toll Mr. Hoi. land what 1 thought of his mean and C contemptible conduct, but I told hj 1Q in the corridor, man to man, j Us i | afterwards. I told him that if i) 9 wanted to make a political career f OI 1 himself not to dive into the political sewer, but to keep his head above it" * This statement by Mr. Semple wai in answer to reports that Mr. Holland had criticised the. appointment of Mr I Sernple's son as a traffic officer in Dun, edin,

"Mr. Sernple's statement is simply not true," said Mr. Holland, " Hp did address that remark to me either in the corridors or anywhere else. Mr Semple did speak to me in the corridor two days after the incident in the House—not just afterwards, as stated by Mr. Semple—and the Minister unburdened himself of a few typically vul. gar Sempleisnis," Mr. Holland added. " I told him quietly but firmly that I was not going to be bullied hr him or anyone else, and that if he had anything to say the floor of the Hous« was the place to say it. That was where the matter was left.

" As for Mr. Scrapie's statement that many members of the Opposition went to him and expressed regret that the matter had been raised. I simply <j 0 not believe it, and I challenge J{ ri Semple to name the members of the Opposition who acted as he states." Referring to his speech in the House when he asked whether Mr. Semple'g son had been appointed to the Transport Department, Mr. Holland said: " I would emphasise that I went out of my way to say that I raised no objection to a Minister's son being appointed provided he had the requisite qualifications, and surely a member has the right to ask if any particular individual has been appointed to the Public Service. The Minister's attack on members of the Opposition is an obvious attempt to camouflage the fact that the recent objections on the appointment of Ministers' sons came from the Public Service, and not from the Opposition members of Parliament at all."