“OUR BEST DONE”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 June 1938, Page 8

“OUR BEST DONE”

ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC WORKS

OPERA HOUSE CROWDED LAST NIGHT LATE GOVERNMENT CRITICISED “No matter what the result of the election is, I will be able to say that, with the help of my colleagues, I have saved this country hundreds of thousands of pounds,” the Minister of Public Works, the Hon R. Semple, told an audience that filled the Opera House to the doors last night. Mr Semple gave what he described as an account of his stewardship since he took over the portfolios of Public Works and Transport. Mr R. Shaw presided, and with him on the stage was Mr J. Robertson, M.P. The Minister was given a most attentive hearing, and at the conclusion of the meeting a motion of thanks and appreciation was declared to be carried unanimously. A section of the audience, led by a woman, also struck up “For He’s a Jolly Good Fellow,” and Mr Semple was cheered.

The Ministei- showed a most interesting and illuminating film depicting old and the new methods of construction employed on public works. Scenes included road and bridge construction, drainage and irrigation schemes and the construction of aerodromes.

Referring to a reported statement by the Hon Adam Hamilton, Leader of the Opposition, that it was wrong to spend money on public works during boom times, the Minister said: “We should not do it, according to Mr Hamilton,'we should wait until the slump comes. What will Mr Hamilton do when the slump comes? Yo ought to know. His Government started eight railway lines, and borrowed £8,000,000 to do the work. They spent the £B,000,000 and when we took control £3,500,000 in interest had been paid. The.’; decided to appoint a board and give the board the job of recommending that those lines should be that was right in the middle of the slump, leaving many men workless. The board-was appointed because they had not the courage to do their dirty job of work.”

“They closed every job, and sold the equipment for a mere song,” the Minister continued. “On every one of those railways,” he added, “there was rust and chaos. Men were left stranded and hopeless. If you want any more of that stuff you can have it at the end of the year.” Mr Semple went on to declare that he had smashed up the “slave camps,” and 90 per cent of those men were today making good, and getting twice as much in a day as they got in a week, before.

He reviewed at length the work of his two departments, criticised the work of the late Government, made pointed statements about the Leader of the Opposition, and concluded: “We have'been-making an effort during the last two and a half years to do our best in the name of, and on behalf of the useful people of the Dominion. And we will look everybody in the face and tell them so when the gong goes.”