Minister talked about loan application ‘over a drink’

Press, 26 September 1980, Page 3

Minister talked about loan application ‘over a drink’

PA Wellington The Minister of Agriculture (Mr Maclntyre) discussed .the Fitzgerald loan application with another Cabinet Minister’s private secretary over a drink in a hotel room last February, the Commission of Inquiry into the Marginal Lands Board loan affair heard yesterday. The discussion took place between February 5 and 7 when Mr Maclntyre, father of Audrey Fitzgerald, invited Mr R. E. Wynn, private secretary to the Minister of Lands (Mr V. S. Young) for a “talk and a drink.”

Mr Wynn said he was at the Waitangi Day celebrations in his capacity as Mr Young’s private secretary and staying at the Tourist Hotel Corporation hotel. “My room was directly opposite the room occupied by Mr and Mrs Duncan Maclntyre,” he said. Mr Wynn said he knew Mr Maclntyre because he had been Acting Minister of Lands on two previous occasions when Mr Young was overseas.

“On my arrival at the hotel, Mr Maclntyre invited me into his room for a talk and a drink.” Mrs Maclntyre was present and witness spent a “couple of hours" with them. A number of agricultural topics were discussed.

During the discussion, Mr Wynn recalled asking the Minister questions about his Waipukurau farm. This led to a brief mention of the Fitzgeralds’ Long Gully property.

He asked Mr Maclntyre if he thought Mr Fitzgerald had the ability to develop such a difficult property, “Mr Maclntyre indicated that he felt that Mr Fitzgerald did have the ability to tackle the property." On reflection, Mr Wynn said, he gained the impression that Mr Maclntyre felt that the Fitzgeralds’ application was being. prejudiced because of their relationship to him.

On March 21 this year — the day Mr Maclntyre took over as Acting Minister of i

Lands because of Mri Young’s overseas departure — the subject again arose between the two men.

Mr Maclntyre called witness into his own office and said he had received a complaint relating to the preparation of the Fitzgerald loan application. “He did not tell me where the complaint had come from. As I recall it, he said he did not want to become involved because of his rela-j tionship to the applicants.” .1 But, Mr Maclntyre had added, he could not ignore any complaint if it was well founded.

During the discussion, Mr Maclntyre had said that a field officer had refused to discuss seasonal budgets with the Fitzgeralds. “Mr Maclntyre also said the applicants were concerned about the Marginal Lands Committee’s apparent lack of interest during its second inspection of the property.”

Mr Maclntyre had also said the committee’s farmer member had apparently asked only one question of the applicants, and the committee’s Ministry of Agriculture member had changed. “I agreed with Mr Maes Intyre that he should not become involved, for obvious reasons," witness said. Mr Wynn said that he told Mr Maclntyre he would bring the complaints to the attention of Mr T. D. MacKenzie, the Marginal Lands director, and he could be "confident they would be dealt with in the proper manner.”

Mr J. C. Upton, counsel assisting the commission, while questioning Mr Wynn, said it was “obvious where the complaint came from” — it must have been the Fitzgeralds. Mr Wynn said he would not want to comment The commission’s chairman, Mr B. D. Inglis, Q.C., inquired if it had occurred to witness that the Fitzgeralds were proving an embarrassment to Mr MacIntyre and Mr Young in the way they were pressing their case. Mr Wynn replied it had not occurred to him.