PUBLIC WORKS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 25 August 1939, Page 7

PUBLIC WORKS

MINISTER DEFENDS EXPENDITURE OFFER TO LEAVE PUBLIC LIFE. IF OPPOSITION CAN PROVE CHARGES. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON. This Day. An offer to resign from public lift if the Opposition could prove its assertion that millions of pounds of public monej 7 had been squandered undei his administration was made in the House of Representatives last night b> the Minister of Public Works. Mi Semple, during the debate on the Finance Bill. It was unjust and unfair, said Mr Semple, to accuse a Ministei of having dipped his finger into the public purse. Mr Semple said that he was prepared to hand £lOO to the-Crippled Children Fund if the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Hamilton, would do sc too. in the event of the assertion nol being proved. NO REDUCTIONS REQUESTED. Individual members of Parliament said Mr Semple, had every opportunity of knowing what was being spent by the Public Works Department in then districts, but he had had not one instance of a member asking for any item to be cut, and, in fact, had re ceived thousands of individual requests for increased expenditure. “This criticism of the expenditure ot my department should be stopped,' said the Minister. “I will undertake tc prove to any properly constituted tribunal composed of engineers and accountants that the Opposition charge that £24,000,000 a year is being spent by the Public Works Department is untrue, and the charge that the portion of the £24.000.000 ( £ 12,000,000) which is being spent by the department is being squandered is incorrect and unfounded. “I am prepared to proVe, in comparison with the methods in use when 1 assumed office, that during the Labour Government's administration of Public Works there has been a saving to the nation of tens of thousands of pounds, that scores of lives have been saved on public works constructional jobs and on the highways. “On the other hand, I am also pre. pared to prove that during past administration of public works, millions of pounds of public money were squandered, and lives needlessly 7 lost. CHALLENGE DEFINED. “If the Opposition can prove the assertions made in this House during this session that millions’of pounds have been wasted on public works, I am prepared to resign from public life and forfeit £lOO to the Cripplied Children Fund, conditionally that the Leader ot the Opposition, if he fails to prove the charges he and his party have made against me and my department, shall do likewise. “I am prepared, if my 7 challenge is accepted, to hand my resignation to the Speaker here and now, with authority from me that it be accepted by him and my seat declared vacant if the charges levelled against my department and my administration are substantiated.” Mr Semple also objected strongly tc being described, as he said he had by members of the Opposition, as Public Enemy Number One, as this placed him in a class below the lowest criminal.