A CHARGE AND A RETORT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2781, 27 May 1916, Page 7

A CHARGE AND A RETORT

•OONCERNING.A SOLDIER'S 'FATHER. \Another charge was made' by Mr. Payne in'the House yesterday.against the father of!: Captain N.Z.AI.G. In tlio course of the question ill*. Payne mentioned the name of the £ton. •whereupon.-Mr.• Fraser retorted effectively. . • _ llr. Payno presented one of ids questions of familiar type with reference to a Mr. .Hotop, of Queenstown, the father of Captain Hotop.- . This question was on Mr. Payne's regular lines, and attracted no special attention till in its concluding portion it suggested that Mr. Hotop was a lay-reader in the local Anglican Church, but that he Jiad refused to read the prayers for the King, and that these and other matters mentioned "were well known to the member for .the district (the Hon. W. Fraser)." , Immediately he caught his name above the babel of voices, the Hon. W. Fraser inquired as to-what had been said, and so soon as he gathered its import rose and said that he could no.t allow the question to pass without .comment. Tho member for Grey Lynn, ho said, had said there was a lay-reader in Queenstown who refused to read the prayers for, the' King.. • Voices: And lie said you knew it. Mr. Fraser: Oh,'did he. I give that a -most unqualified denial.' I have known Mr. Hotop for many years, and I and many other people in Otago who know him well know that ho is not capable of any suoh thing. ilr. Payne: Is he a German? i'lie Speaker directed that Mr. Fraser could only correct any misstatement. Mr. Fraser: Well, I say I resent this question exceedingly, and I think .the jlouse should resent it also as a slander upon an innocent man.

in S i declaration "'as greeted with loud -hear-hears" from various parts of the House.