REMARKS BY MINISTER

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23845, 14 January 1943, Page 2

REMARKS BY MINISTER

MR W. W. MULHOLLAND’S PROTEST (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Jan. 13. A protest against what he describe as “an unconstitutional, and for a Minister of the Crown, improper action" of the Minister of Agriculture (the Hon. J, G. Barclay) in making public a Stabilisation Committee recommendation to the War Cabinet, is made by the president of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union (Mr W. W. Mulholland) in a letter to the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser). Referring to Mr Barclay’s statement at Oamaru on the proposals for the distribution of the wool price increase, Mr says: “Mr Barclays statement gives the misleading impression that he has been in active ana continuous negotiations with representatives of the sheepowners, particularly the Sheepowners’ Federation. I am informed by the secretary of the Sheepowners’ Federation that he has had no communication from Mr Barclay on this matter since the two conferences last June. , “I, as chairman of the Farmers Federation and president of the Farmers’ Union, know these two bodies have had no communication from Mr Barclay on the matter since that date. Mr A. T. Connelly, in his official capacity as' chairman of the Stabilisation Committee then sitting, waited on a meeting of the electoral committee of the New Zealand Meat Producers Board at its meeting in August, and made a statement. That statement cannot be construed as being in any sense a negotiation. "If Mr Barclay or anybody on n» behalf has discussed the matter with individuals, that action cannot be construed as being negotiations with tne sheepowners’ representatives. His further statement tnat various aspects of the administration of the Stabilisation Fund were at present being discussed with the Sheepowners’ Federation appears equally incorrect.”