Govt refuses meat industry money to buy Kaiapoi works

Press, 7 August 1978, Page 1

Govt refuses meat industry money to buy Kaiapoi works

W The Government has refused a Meat Board application to use meat industry reserve account funds to take over the Kaiapoi freezing works of N.C.F. Kaiapoi. Ltd.

The board had sought permission from the Prime Minister and Minister of Finance (Mr Muldoon) to use the funds to buy shares in the company, but the board's chairman (Mr C. Hilgendorf) said at the week-end that the Government had declined the board’s request. Mr Hilgendorf was not prepared to say why the Government had declined. However, the board has not given up its quest for Kaiapoi, and Mr Hilgendorf said that he would talk to the Canterbury Frozen Meat Company, Ltd, and Waitaki N.Z. Refrigerating, Ltd, the principal shareholders in N.C.F., u see if they could find a solution that would more readily satisfy the Government. The board had offered $7 for shares in the company, which put the price for the works about S4M. The acquisition of the

works by the board was also subject to the present owner-companies having access to meat processed at Kaiapoi for a period. The Government’s attitude was disappointing, said Mr M. R. Barnett, chairman of a committee of Canterbury and Marlborough fanners called together by the board to investigate the purchase of a works in Canterbury. Mr Barnett said that the Kaiapoi project had distinct possibilities for the future of the industry. The demand for meat cuts was increasing, and if this work could not be done efficiently in New Zealand, it would have to be done elsewhere, he said. If that happened job opportunities would be lost to New Zealand. Mr Barnett said he hoped that the organisation to run Kaiapoi, if it was taken over by the board, would

be a co-operative in the truest sense.

He hoped that the interim board of the new organisation would be prepared to discuss with those concerned their future involvement in the enterprise. Referring to the further discussions planned about the acquisition of the works, Mr Barnett said he hoped that a solution would be found in plenty of time before the opening of the new killing season. Many farmers were interested in the exercise but they had become frustrated by the length of t b e negotiations, Mr Barnett said. The board and his committee had done all in their power to bring the negotiations to completion, but until Mr Muldoon saw fit to approve the use of industry funds in this way nothing more could be done.