"NO INCOME FROM HOTELS"

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 44, 8 March 1937, Page 5

"NO INCOME FROM HOTELS"

-E*ress Agsooiation.'

Rumours About Mr Semple j Given Denial "ALL FOUL LiES^

(Bjr. Telegraph-

WELLINGTON, March 6. The steps he nad takeu to prevent the consumption of liquor in Public Works camps were outlined by Mr Semple to-day_ Mr Semple "said that the statement had been broadcast that he, as Minister for Public Works, before the starting of the Turakina deviation had purchased the hotel at Fordell and that he had put his daughter and her husband in the hotel as "dummies," so that he (Mr Semple) would receive the benefits of the earnings of the men. That statement had been broadcast throughout the Dominion and. it had come back to him. ; "The facts are," said Mr Semple, "I did not know there was an hotel at Fordell till I went to meet the men employed on the job there a few weeks ago. I never in my life owned « any interest in an hotel in New Zealand or in any other country I have been in and I never will. This statement has been made at a time when I am doing my best to keep liquor out of the Public Works camps of the country, and, if I had my way, I would close every hotel in close proximity to public works." Mr Semple said that the following notice was displayed in all Public Works camps: "Any men found indulging in the following practices are liable to summary dismissal : (1) Drinking to excess in any camp or on any work under control of the Department. (2) Behaving in a disorderly manner on the works. (3) Absenting themselves from work without leave or when on works being in unfit state to do a fair day's work though the effeets of intemperance. (4) Brawling in camp. The Minister said that he took the opportunity to make the statement to combat f oul lies that had been whispered about him to discredit him, although he was doing all that he could to prevent the entry of liquor into Public Works camps and had done more than any Minister had dared to do before.