NOT JUSTIFIED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 22, 27 January 1939, Page 8

NOT JUSTIFIED.

MINISTER'S ATTACK. IMPORTERS ANNOYED. SUPERB CHAIRMANSHIP. The opinion that the attack made by the Minister of Customs, Hon. W. Xash, on Mr. M. S. Myers, of Dunedin. president of the Associated Chambers of Commerce, was entirely unjustified, was expressed by Auckland business men who returned this morning after attending the importers' conference in Wellington. Mr. (iainor Jackson, who represented the executive of the Bureau of Importers, stated that the consensus of opinion was that Mr. Myers' exhibition of chairmanship was a masterpiece. "In my opinion the gathering was the finest commercial conference ever held in the Dominion, and the exception taken by the Minister to Mr. Myers' remarks in opening the conference was entirely unjustified." said Mr. Jackson. "Mr. Myers had refrained from allowing politics to enter into the discussion and his control was admirable. "It was by no means an easy job to handle such a conference, where there were so many forceful views expressed; for the Minister to criticise one who had, by his strength and ability, kept the meeting along orthodox and dispassionate business lines, was a tactical error. It was felt generally by those present that the Minister's references to Mr. Myers' remarks were without a shadow of justification." Mr. Jackson added that the restraint shown by the delegates during the conference was most marked and the unanimity that existed among the 1200 present was astonishing. Referring to the Minister's criticism of the dictaphone incident, he said that Mr. Nash knew that the machine was there, and it was used merely to secure a record of the Minister's statement, as it was common knowledge that he spoke so fast than an accurate record would be difficult to secure by other means.