MEAT BOARD.

Press, Volume LXI, Issue 18400, 5 June 1925, Page 10

MEAT BOARD.

MR LYSNAR'S CHARGES.

ENQUIRY CONCLUDED

(PP.ESS ASSOCIATION TELEQIUM.)

WELLINGTON, June -1

At the Meat Commission Sir John Findlay, K.C., commenced his address on behalf of the Government. He said ho really believed Mr Lysnar would have made a better tragedy hero on the stage than the self-appointed champion of a defunct meat company. Mr Lysnar seemed to have entirely lost sight of a few simple happenings which had led up to the appointment of a commission. In the flood of his verbosity he had failed to find a channel, or any destination. That fatal gift of volubility had led Mr Lysnar to acquire an obsession against the Minister of Agriculture, against the Meat Board and .Vestey's, in which he had unnecessarily lost all sense of intellectual and moral judgment. Referring to the ' charges against Vestey's, Sir John Findlay asked whether any evidence had been given oiled by Mr Lysnar, that could, or would, have satisfied the Minister, or the Meat Board, that tho arbitrary and drastic power conferred by section 7 of the Act of 1918 should have been, used to refuse consent to the issue of, a license to Vestey's. Surely, ho said, the evidence had been all the other wav. He paid a tribute to the late-i Mr" W. D. S. Mac Donald, who was Minister of Agriculture up to 1919. He had held tho balance impartially and the same state of affairs existed when Mr Noswoithy became Minister of Agriculture, Mr Lysnar had denounced Vestey's in strong language, calling them a "vicious trust" and "a concern that was eating the vitals out of the country," but what were they to say to Mr Lysnaiv's own efforts to sell to Vestey's? It was all a question of money, not a question of principles at'vall."" ' ' The enquiry placed Mr Lysnar in anunenviable position. They had tho picture of the mendicant who, having advertised Vestey's as the devil, was prepared to sup With that devil, provided the dish was rich enough to satisfy, his appetite. , _ ~,■■' Mr C; P. Skerrett, K.C., addressing the Commission oil behalf of the Meat Board, said that the only charge worthy of investigation was that relating to tho sale to Vestey's, In the present enquiry it was fair to. say that Mr Lysnar had not' hesitated, without..-, the slightest justification, to impute..improper methods to the Minister of Agriculture, Mr D. Jones, chairman of the Meat Board, Mr A. Jolly, of the National Bank, and, in fact, every person who had crossed his path in connexion with the enquiry.. In Parliament Mr Lysnar . had suggested that there must have been some improper, some' corrupt, some sinister, influence which actuated the Miniver of Agriculture and tho Mcat'Boavd. The Govern-, ment had decided that „ the matter should be fully 1 , investigated in ■ order that any suspicion might be •dispelled. Mr Skerrett described Mr.Lysnar's allegation as a personal vendetta' .against,Mr Jones. Mr Lysnar had no; desire to serve the public interest. The main purpose, he • submitted, was to. save the works being sold up and the, mismanagement of the works being brought home dramatically and tragically, to the shareholders who had invested "their money. He asked the Commis: si.on to sift the evidence and ask their consciences whether they were not satis r lied that Mr Lysnar had no regard for tho public interest, but ,was anxious to hide up the consequences of the most extravagant management of. freezing (works that had ever happened in. the history of any country.