MACHINES NEEDED

New Zealand Herald, Volume 78, Issue 24038, 8 August 1941, Page 3

MACHINES NEEDED

ALL SENT OVERSEAS BUILDING AERODROMES HON. R. SEMPLE'S CLAIM (S.K.) WELLINGTON, Thursday "Those machines have gone overseas and are building aerodromes elsewhere. \Ye have not one of them left," said the Minister of National Service, the Hon. It. Semple, during the second leading debate on the Finance Hill in the House of .Representatives to-night, when emphasising the value New Zealand had received from machinery purchased for the construction of aerodromes and other works during his term as Minister of Public Works. The Minister was cut off the air by the Speaker, the Hon. W. E. Barnard, at this stage, and twice later in his speech. ''Had we not had the machines to build titi aerodromes, we could not have sent pilots to Kngland when war broke out, because we would have had nowhere to train them." Mr. Semple said. "Those hoys have put New Zealand on the map. They have won 100 decorations for bravery. We could not have taken part in the Canadian air scheme had we not built those aerodromes. Will any honourable gentleman toll me now that the money spent on those machines was wasted Mr. Semple said the machines, for the purchase of which he and the Government had been cruelly criticised, had proved a blessing both before the war and now during it. The British Government had asked for the machines and had got them. They had been a godsend. The Minister was again cut off the air at this stage, and the broadcast of his speech was interrupted a third time a little later. "There are a lot of things I cannot say," he added, "because they arc a kind of State Secrets."