Meat Freight Rates

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30555, 25 September 1964, Page 14

Meat Freight Rates

Mr W. B. Trotter is, no doubt, perfectly sincere in his belief that the Conference Lines have unfairly based their charges for freight on refrigerated meat cargoes. He is mistaken; but, in any event, his charges should not have been made against the shipping companies but against the producer boards. As a member of the electoral college of the New Zealand Meat Producers’ Board, Mr Trotter is well aware of the statutory duty of the producer boards to negotiate shipping contracts. He must also be aware that the boards have engaged a reputable firm of London chartered accountants to scrutinise the shipping lines’ accounts, and that a full-scale investigation of these accounts was made some years ago by another London organisation of high repute. Does Mr Trotter suggest that he has unmasked a conspiracy which these experts were unable—or unwilling—to discover? If there were any substance in Mr Trotter’s charges, the Meat Board must be incompetent, or worse, to retain such advisers. The Overseas Shipowners’ Committee has patiently answered Mr Trotter’s allegations point by point; but the answer should really have come from the Meat Board. It is the board, and not the shipping conference, that has a responsibility to farmers.