MINISTER’S CHALLENGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 23514, 31 May 1938, Page 13

MINISTER’S CHALLENGE

EXCHANGE OF COMPLIMENTS INVITATION TO EDITOR (Per United Press Association) WANGANUI, May 30. The Minister of Public Works (Mr R. Semple) has issued a challenge to Mr H. C. Jenkins, editor of the Wanganui Chronicle, to attend the former’s meetings at Bulls to-night or Wanganui to-morrow night to prove statements he was reported to have made in addressing a public meeting in the interest of the National Party recently, or “ stand condemned as a coward and a liar.” Mr Jenkins, replying, comments on the delay by the Minister in issuing his challenge, saying: “If the belated protest is a stunt to boost his travelling film show, or put me at a disadvantage, the appellation of coward sits comfortably on his shoulders.” Mr Jenkins’s statements dealt mainly with Mr Semple’s visit to Australia and his administration of the Public Works Department. In support he quoted newspaper reports and official figures, adding: “ Nevertheless, if I have done Mr Semple an injustice I shall immediately rectify it, and not follow the precedent set by the Prime Minister when he departed consciously from the truth concerning the Saving Bank accounts, and when Mr Nash also deliberately left the path of rectitude in his allegations against the literary staff of the Dominion,”