“TAKING NO INSULTS”

Wairarapa Times-Age, 30 August 1938, Page 9

“TAKING NO INSULTS”

, HON. R. SEMPLE ATTACKS 1 COUNTY COUNCILLOR. ‘ AFFAIR ENDS IN HANDSHAKE. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) BLENHEIM, August 29. Events at the opening of the new Hodder River Bridge in the Awatere district by the Minister of Public Works the Hon R. Semple, on Saturday took a surprising turn when the Minister made a strong attack on a member of the Awatere County Council who was standing alongside him, alleging that he had been insulted. The object of Mr Semple’s charge was Mr L. L. T. Bush, who, incidentally, is chairman of the National Party for this electorate. At the July meeting of the county council, when it was suggested that Mr Semple should be invited to open the bridge, Mr Bush remarked: “Would you ask the county to pay his expenses to come over here and open the bridge?’ Waving a newspaper clipping, Mr Semple, averring that he had been a fighter all his life and never took an insult lying down, declared that he had never scrounged on any county council or anybody else for expenses. “I want to tell Mr Bush to his teeth that I resent this bitter, vindictive, common insult,” he said. .Denying any political bias in his own dealings, Mr Semple added: “I want to tell you, Mr Bush, that your remarks were a common, cheap, vulgar insult. I want nothing from you or from your council. I resent your political insult and venom.” Mr Bush: “Mr Semple, allow me.” Mr Semple: “1 don’t want to hear anything from you at this juncture.” The county chairman intervened to explain that Mr Bush’s remark was intended to be jocular. Mr Bush also assured the Minister that this was so and offered to apologise and shake hands, admitting that the remark was open to a wrong construction if remov-' cd from its context. Remarking that he would take no insults and was not afraid to put in the boot, the Minister accepted the proffered hand and the incident closed amid applause.