Feasibility Study On Sea Products Sought

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31801, 4 October 1968, Page 20

Feasibility Study On Sea Products Sought

(New Zealand Press Association) NELSON, October 3. Nelson interests are asking the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) for a feasibility study on the possibility (Mr Holyoake) for a study on the possibility of keeping N.Z. Sea Products Export, Ltd, a “going concern.”

Mr Holyoake has also been told that Nelson shareholders are prepared to help keep the company in business.

The secretary of the Nelson Provincial Chamber of Commerce (Mr C. V. Neale) told the chamber’s monthly meeting last night that Nelson shareholders were opposed to the company’s assets being sold piecemeal.

Mr Neale was reporting on the outcome of a meeting yesterday of some Nelson share-

holders. He said the support and loyalty of the shareholders at the meeting was most encouraging. The situation could be disastrous to the fishing industry as a whole. Mr Neale said. “We will need Government help to hold assets for at least two months.” The company had been on the verge of breaking even from its operations, but the bad fishing season had been the last straw. Other companies had confirmed that the season had been one of the worst for many years. Shareholders Ready "Until such time as an independent expert study could be made, we feel we have done the only thing possible. The shareholders themselves are prepared to dig in and help," Mr Neale said. Two companies which went bankrupt had since become profitable concerns because they were given the opportunity, he said. “From the evidence that has been available it appears that Sea Products could follow the same pattern if given a chance. A lot of people criticised the large trawlers, but they were better than smaller vessels,” Mr Neale said. P.M.’s View The Prime Minister said today, before he heard from the Nelson interests, that the Government would not put any more money into Sea Products. Ltd.

Referring at a press conference to the 860,000 put into the company by the Government and the $125,000 contributed by the Development Finance Corporation, he said: “The Government made its decision that this was all it could ask the taxpayer reasonably to risk.

“There has been no change in that decision,” Mr Holyoake said. The Prime Minister said he had not yet received a telegram from shareholders of the company appealing to the Government to give the company a breathing space to hold a “feasibility study” on the company’s future. To Be Studied Asked if he would consider the shareholders’ request, he said: “I frankly don't know what this implies or means or asks for. “But naturally when I receive the telegram I will study it and consult with my colleagues,” said the Prime Minister.