THE MEAT TRUST.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 187, 8 August 1919, Page 8

THE MEAT TRUST.

MENACE IN NEW ZEALAND. (By Telegraph.—Special to "Star.") MASTERTON, this day. At the annual meeting of the Wellington Farmere' Meat Company, Mr. J. <J. Cooper, managing director, had something to say about the Meat Trust. "It has been suggested by some of our shareholders," said Mr. Cooper, "that the time has arrived when the company should increase its dividend in common with other farmers' companies and inI stitutions to, say, 71 per cent. The I Board of Directors feel, however, that a wiser policy for the company is to continue to consolidate its business by the establishment of new and profitable subsidary industries, particularly as we have the menace of the Meat Trust j always before our minds, and the position in this respect has been further accentuated by the recent purchase ot Vestey'e, who have bought out Nelson Brothers' interest in the Hawke's Bay district. It must be remembered that any profits earned by the Meat Trust in this country are withdrawn to the United States or other foreign countries, a bleeding process which must lead more or less to the impoverishment ot the Dominion, whereas the profits of such companies as our own are spent in the country, and are helping to develop and build up its industries and resources."