Cotton Mill Loss Put At £260,000

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29897, 10 August 1962, Page 12

Cotton Mill Loss Put At £260,000

(Neu? Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, August 9. The final loss on the termination of the agreement to end the Nelson cotton mill project was estimated at £260,000. This did not take into account any gain or loss on the sale of the land or the buildings that the Government had had completed, said the Minister of Industries and Commerce (Mr Marshall) in the House of Representatives tonight.

Mr Marshall was moving the second reading of the Commonwealth Fabric Corporation Bill. He said that the shell of the buildings contained 97,600 square feet. Inquiries had been made for the use of the building for a woollen mill, a metal works and for food processing, but the Government, so far, had not had a firm offer. Mr A. H. Nordmeyer (Opposition, Island Bay) described the ending of the agreement with the corporation as “an illegal action.” “The Government indicated that it was prepared to bring down legislation—that was the only reason the Auditor-General was prepared to authorise this payment.” said Mr Nordmeyer. Mr Marshall then gave the Government’s reasons for the termination of the agreement, traced the history of the talks with the corporation’s directors and outlined his hopes for the disposal of the building, land and plant the Government had purchased from the corporation. Mr Marshall said the country had lost interest in debating the arguments for and against the cotton mill. Mr Nordmeyer said the only argument Mr Marshall

; could find for terminating the agreement was the loss of Customs revenue. “One would have thought he would have taken the opportunity to give the reasons behind the Government’s decision,” he said. Mr Marshall: I have given them dozens of times already. Mr Nordmeyer said that while a valid agreement had been entered into by mutual consent, the consent of the company had been given reluctantly. The company had said it had discussed the proposal fully with Mr Holyoake when he was in opposition. Surely the National Party should have taken the opportunity to make its position clear then. Mr Holyoake interjected that it would have been improper for him to see the agreement and he did not see it.

Emergency Lighting.— The district Commissioner of Works has been asked to prepare an estimate of the cost of installing emergency lighting into the Burnside H.gh School assembly hall, the school’s board of governors was informed in a letter from the Education Department, received last evening.