THE FARMER AND HIS WOOL

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 244, 9 July 1921, Page 7

THE FARMER AND HIS WOOL

COMMANDEER PRICES ANU | PROFITS. Sii-,—J am pleased someone has drawn Mr. Newman's attention, to my letter of J uno 16, as it has given him the opportunity of telling me that these dangerous documents he obtained possession «f from confiding people had been destroyed before the trustees to the fund were appointed. The last I heard about them was I hat no assignor would have the opportunity of cancelling, after a particular time, which is different to destroying them, as their existence might have caused the trustees even more serious trouble than the individual assignors. But let me tell Mr. Newman the part I have played in connection with the cancellation. When the trustees were about to be appointed I wrote to my friend Mr. Massey offering the suggestion that if he could not see his way ' to wholly cancel these objectionable asI signments, he might partially do so by limiting their application to the first payment of half profits, then being dealt with, and if be would consent to destroy them before trustees were appointed. I would not only contribute myself, but would assist him to obtain authority from the owners of three-fourths of the sheep in the Dominion, who had very properly ignored Mr. Newman's unusual request, to deduct pro rata from them all a sum equivalent, or possibly greater, than that extracted from the comparatively few trustful people who had assigned the whole of their half profits to the fund, which .assignments the trustees, after accepting office, would, lor their own protection, be vompelled v? respect. As there is more money in prospect, 1 am glad Mr. Massey has seen fit even to partially cancel, and if only one of the unfortunate contributors feels grateful to Mr. Massey and myself I shall feel happier than Mr. Newman and Sir James Allen for the part played bj them in the matter. Mr. Newman will now see that I bad some consideration for the sailors and tl»eir dependants, but thought and still think that; their wants should have been attended to by the owners of shipping who employed them and who had exacted enormous freights from producers, sufficient to pay annual dividends of 100 per cent, and over on moneys so ln- ' vested. These, contributions, therefore, double-bank- the producers here, and ono naturally objects to pay twice for anything. , As to Mr. Newman’s flippant sneer at my “absurd claim” of thirty millions against the Imperial Government, not onlv to rectify Sir James Alien’s mistakes but for subsequent breaches in the commandeer contract, and the reference to Parliamentary reports in Han-' sard for confirmation of his opinions, 1 can assure him that wiser and far more competent men than the average member of Parliament, with Sir Thomas Mackenzie to hack me, confirm my reading of the Wool Commissioner's cables; that the wording can hear no other construction than that ho was dealing with London average, prices, although he now finds it inconvenient to admit it, and prefers. Sir Jamas Allen's counter offer, which was about 7d. per lb less; The breaches in the contract give Mr. Massey a. double claim to review its conditions and rectify the mistake, but all I ask for is 55 per cent, over the London average prices for the various descriptions of the 1913-14 clip, which I still maintain we vere offered. It may lx>. as Mr. Newman eays, that the Imperial Government has paid the primary producer .£158,000,000 for their productions during war, but they got good value for the money, and which, when compared with prices paid to other British farmers elsewhere for like productions, would have cost them just about double, that sum. The advantages, therefore, have been not with the farmers here, as Mr. Newman asserts, but on the side of the Imperial Government, whom many aver have driven, and are still trying to drive, very hard bargains with the New Zealand and Australian producers, and such being the case Mr. Massey need not listen to the political piffle Mr. Newman flings at me for trying to exact the last farthing for our wool. The position of affairs here more than justifies Mr. Massey in claiming a full measure of damages for breaches in the contract which eminent counsel says he can justly exact, and Mr. Newman may be interested to learn that he, no doubt with the valuable aid of Sir Thomas Mackenzie. is pressing lone of my “absurd claims” for a few "infinitesimal" millions, which the Woo] Commissioner cannot withhold, and which would have been lost sight of altogether, both by the High Commissioner in London and the Department here, had not I, a private individual, drawn Mr. Massey's special attention to it. I entirely exonerate Mr. Massey, who cannot attend to details, but surely the man who signed ths- contract and who must have been dealing with the matter should have been wide awake.

I am more than pleased that Mr. Massey has had tho good sense to take Sir Thomas Mackenzie Home with him, as he will be of inestimable value, both to him and the Dominion, and I cannot help expressing my regret that the exigencies of political service necessitatsd. or demanded his removal from office at a time when his services were almost indispensable. As to the sentimental part of Mr. Newman’s letter I have ignored it altogether, and content myself with the feeling that if I am no better, I am perhaps no worse, than himself.—l am. ofc., WM. MILNE. Oamaru, July 5, 1921.