Cabinet Considers Fishing Proposal

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31385, 2 June 1967, Page 1

Cabinet Considers Fishing Proposal

Arguments in favour of the proposed New Zealand-Japanese fishing venture were being considered by the Cabinet, said the joint managing director of Taimoana Fisheries, Ltd. (Mr J. S. Pallot) yesterday.

Mr Pallot said he had had talks in Wellington this week, and he was hopeful of a Government decision reasonably soon on his company’s application for approval of a joint fishing venture off the New Zealand coast. Mr Pallot denied a suggestion that the Government had declined the application because the proposed proportion of overseas shareholding was high. It was the generally accepted sentiment of the Government that overseas equity shareholding in new industries should not exceed 24 per cent of the total, Mr Pallot said. The basic reason for this view, which was by no means the law, was that under New Zealand legislation 75 per cent of votes of shareholding was required to alter the articles of association of a company. However, each proposal for a new enterprise had to be

judged on its merits, and the Government could consider that this basic thinking could well be altered in the interests of New Zealand. Whether this was done depended on the merits of the particular case, but arguments could be used for overseas capital in tourist and hotel companies.