REMOVED FROM OFFICE.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 244, 15 October 1929, Page 9

REMOVED FROM OFFICE.

FREEZING COMPANY CHAIRMAN

HON. J. Cr. COBBE.

POLITICAL BIAS ALLEGED.

The circumstances of the retirement of the Minister of Industries and Commerce (the Hon. J. G. Cobbe) from the position of chairman of directors of the Feilding Farmers' Freezing Company have given rise to considerable controversy in the district. In a letter which he has addressed to the present chairman of directors, Mr. Cobbe alleges that he was removed from the position solely on the ground that he is a member of the present Government. Mr. Cobbe's letter is as follows:— "I have given due consideration to the statements made by Mr. J. J. Bryce at the meeting of directors of the above company on the 4th inst, which statements were evidently endorsed by the other directors, as shown by their sueuce and practically unanimous vote, under these circumstances I feel it would not be agreeable to the directorate, or pleasant for myself, if I were to remain a member of the board. I have therefore to ask you to accept my resignation as a director. You will remember that Mr. Brvce said it was not fitting that I should'be chairman of a freezing company, the reason being that I was a member of a Government whose taxation proposals were going to ruin the farmers, not only the big men, but the smaller ones. The proposals would ultimately absolutely cripple the production of fat lambs, and the freezing industrv and the freezing works of the country would be ruined. These and other statements were apparently agreed to bv the other directors. You will no doubt agree that if I am unfit to hold the office of chairman it necessarily follows that I am unfit to be a director. "There is another' and possibly stronger reason why it is not fitting that I should remain on the directorate. I regard a freezing company as a business concern, and it is my firm conviction that it should be conducted upon purely business lines. Such matters as religion, politics, or nationality should not be allowed to obtrude. The members, of your board are evidently of the opinion that political colour is of greater importance than business principles. I entirely disagree with their view, and as such wide 5 difference of opinion is unlikely to further the best interests of the company it is plainly my duty to resign. "I do not wish either you or any other director to imagine for a single moment that I regret my removal from the office of chairman of the freezing company. You will, no doubt, remember how reluctant I was to take the position, and the length of time I took for consideration before I accepted it. You will also remember that.after my return to Parliament last year I informed the board that I did not wish .to continue as chairman unless it was the unanimous wish of the directors. Had my offer to resign been accepted at that time I would not have been~ compelled to listen to the splenetic attack made upon the Government of which Tam a member, as well as upon myself, afyour directors' meeting on the 4th inst. lam sending copies of this letter to the Press, so that shareholders may understand. the exact position, and that I may have the opportunity of denying the report that I resigned the*, chairmanship of the company. I did not resign. I was removed from the position, solely on the ground, as plainly stated at the meeting of directors, that I am a member of the present Government." -