A BELATED EXPLANATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 59, 11 March 1926, Page 6

A BELATED EXPLANATION.

After thinking it over for six weeks, the Minister of Agriculture has made public the reasons which induced him to act upon the advice of the Meat Pro-

ducers Board in declining to sanction the transfer of the Wellington Meat Export works to Thos. Borthwick and |Sone. Freezing is a key industry, lie says, and should be kept in the hands of local people, otherwise the '"big meat interests may dominate prices both to farmer and consumer. He therefore is of opinion that freezing and meat export should be divorced, and that the exporter should not be in a position to carry on all the processes involved in preparing stock for the Home market. Such a limitation would, he says, provide ample money to meet all freezing charges and leave a margin sufficient to place the industry on a sound basis. At present two systems operate in New Zealand. Some of the large exporting firms buy stock on the farms or in the saleyards, at an inclusive price, or they buy at the works at a stated price per pound "on the hooks." In' either case the pelt and by-products are the property of the exporter, and in the aggregate they represent a considerable sum. Under the other method the freezing company receives:the stock, prepares it for export, and charges the exporter with the cost of freezing and incidentals only, all other payments, including those for pelt and by-products, going to the - shipper. This is the system which the Minister wishes to impose over the Avhole Dominion, and evidently it was a leading factor in his decision to veto the transfer. But since unification of method is impossible, the Minister cannot be said to have justified his decision, especially as the co-opera-tive companies are still passing through an anxious time, and some of them, arc still in sore financial straits. The Wellington Company is now faced with the necessity for raising £200,000 if it is to carry on, and the shareholders have already decided against raising the money. The refusal to sanction the sale, which implies a denial of the right of realisation of the company's assets, will surely hinder the raising of further capital, and as the company is heavilyindebted to a bank for advances made in time of stress, it is faced with a very grave position by the Minister's action. His belated explanation does not clarify the position, and his action should not be limited to a scant and arbitrary refusal of the transfer.