HEATED WORDS AT MEETING

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 170, 5 August 1937, Page 5

HEATED WORDS AT MEETING

l Our Own Correspondent.)

; ■ » ■ ■( Verbal Duel: Ministers and Unemployed CHAIRMAN INTERVENES

(From

CHRISTCHURCH, Last Night. Angry words passed between th® Minister for Industries and Commerce, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, and the secretary of the New Brighton Unemployed Workers' Movement, Mr H. E. Barnsley, while the Minister was hearing a deputation from the movement at New Brighton on Monday. T3ie verbal duel between the two becamo so heated that the chairman ini^rvenedL Later the Minister of Mines, the Hon* P. C. Webb, was also halted by th'o chairman when he made a personal reference to Mr Barnsley. Mr Barnsley had spoken critically when putting forward several of tho 10 recommendations the deputation made to the Minister, More thvt once he referred to the part played by the unemployment movement in putting Labour in power and aQ^ed that some of Labour's promisea had not heen kept. He suggested that .the statement made by Mr Sullivan that the rise in the cost of lirinfl amounted to only 7\ per cent. was wrong, and that the actnal rise wai more like 15 per cent.; he claimed that the Unemployment Division was acting in the capacity of a personal detective and also criticised the Minister'e handling of the bread prohlem, alleging that it had greatlyfin* ! creased the cost of living. "Stupld Address." Mr Sullivan quickly expresced hii resentment. "Because of my 25 years' sasvica for Labour and because I have always been on the side of the deservina worker, I resent the aggressive language used by Mr Barnsley when making his etupid address," the Minnter said. "I do not -want it to be interpreted as a reflection on the unemployed here, but I do say that. Mr Barnsley ought not to be here this afternoon, and that a man. with. his history and his career has no right to address Mr Webb or myeelf. in thoso terms. I know his history and his career, and how he has spent hisjitiui o and where, and I resent his attitude this afternoon. - • s "I say that yon have a damn^wieek to come into this room and address Mr Webb and me and these respectable people here in the terms yon have used," Mr Sullivan said. "I have a lot of things I would like to tell you about . - •"* , , Mr Barnsley : You are at liberty to tell them. , Mr Sullivan: If you have «ty decency at all you ought to go down those staars. Mr Barnsley: I will not go «ow n those stairs. w „ The chairman of the meeting, Mr ri . R, MacDonald, then intervenea. Ha pointed out that Mr Barnsley was the elected secretary of the movement and that as chairman he had to protect ihe secretary from personal referencee. "I know you would do the same m a simliar position," Mr MacDonald said, "and I know you must feel the embarrassment of my situation. I ask you to leave such personal references out of the discussioh." Mr Sullivan : In def erence to your „ rquest and to the members of the movement, I will consent to your j|uling. I will leave that matter alone for the time being. The Minister was applauded later when he explained that if ha had spoken in heat it was because he felt justified in doing so. He was applauded again when he spoke of his own struggles for the Labibur movement. "I have been , fighting with you all . the time, and I could tell you where I was when I was absent from you and from the city." (Cries of "Hear, hear.") Mr. Webb's Defence, Mr. Webb, in his defenqe of tho Government's unemployment policy, made a reference to Mr. Barnsley hav» ing always opposed Labour. "If anything defeats ns at the next elections, it will not be money," tho Minister said, "biit it will be the men i» our own movement who are ready to stab the Government in the back at every opportnnity. It would bo def eat from the men who think they know all there is to know about everything with whieh we deal,. and men who have been in opposition to the Government all their lives, like Mr. Barnsley here." "I question that,' ' interjected Mr» Barnsley. Mr. Webb was about to retort when* the chairman again intervened. "Although I am the chairman, I must rebuke you for conduct which is not in aceordance with that of a Minister,'* Mr. MacDonald said. '"I do not say that you are not entitled to reply, but I admit that I am in fault as chairman for allowing Mr. Barnsley to wanden from the subject of the resolutions.*' * Mr. Webb submitted to the chairman* He expained that he had no bad ■ f eeling about the incident, but that hb "liked to have a piece of anyone who put the knife into the Government.' r The meeting,' in fact, ended after Mr« Barnsley had denied that he had over opposed the Government, and the members had carried a resolution „ of ' confidence in the Labour movement. Mr. Sullivan explained that everyone would have been disappointed in him to see him ''get a plug under the jaw and not give one back.'' "I'm an Irishman, you see,'* said the Minister. A voice: But Barnsley ?s an Irishman, too. Mr. Webb ended the argument finally with a reminder that he also was Irisli.