MINISTER'S ATTACK

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23135, 6 September 1938, Page 12

MINISTER'S ATTACK

RIVER PROTECTION WORK HAWKE'S BAY INDIGNATION POINTED REPLY TO REMARKS [BY TELEGRAPH —PRESS ASSOCIATION] NAPIER, Monday "There is neither justification nor need for that outburst. It is just one of those outbursts we have come to expect from that Minister. It seems to mo that thinking in millions has swollen the Minister's head," said Mr. W. H. Campbell, a member of the Hawke's Bay Rivers Board, during a discussion at the board's meeting to-day of the recent remark made at Clivo by the Minister of Public Works, tho Hon. R. Semple, that the board had "mucked up its river protection works." The chairman, Mr. C. Lassen, said he regretted that tho Minister had made tho statement, particularly as it was published throughout New Zealand. "It is difficult to understand tho Minister's remarks to Clive residents," Mr. Lassen said. "If they mean that the works have been inefficiently carried on, then the board definitely denies that that is the case. I cannot see that the works were mucked up, and I think the Minister's remarks were uncalled for." Mr. R. E. Talbot said it had been tho Minister who had mucked the board up. "When we have a Minister coming to the district and upsetting the ratepayers, I think it is time we dug in our heels and, perhaps, used some of the language that he uses sometimes." Mr. H. M. Thompson: Sometimes I wonder if tho Minister is responsible for his speeches. Some fellows get water on the brain, but I think the Minister has machinery on the brain. The attack he made was very misleading and mo;;t unwarranted.