THE MEAT POOL

Dominion, Volume 15, Issue 154, 25 March 1922, Page 10

THE MEAT POOL

(CONSTITUTION OF THE BOARD MR. MASSEY REPLIES TO CRITICS HOW THE BOARD WAS ELECTED Certain statements made at -• ■'!' meeting of the Dominion Executive of the Farmers’ Union dealing with the election of the Meat Export Control Board were referred to by the Prime Minister (Mr. Massey) yesterday in the course of an interview with a representative of “The Dominion.” Mr. Massey stated that one of the members of the executive was reported as having Said:, “Instead of being elected by the producers, the board virtually had been nominated by the Government. The appointment of the board had been a hole-and-corner business, and the farmers in his district had no confidence whatever in a board so constituted.” Another member (Captain Colbeck) had said the' Government' had had a majority on the committee, and had elected whom it liked. Another member said it was "a Government board.” “These gentlemen,” said Mr. Massey, “evidently do not understand the position. At a very largely-attended meeting of producers held in Wellington in January a committee ,of fourteen was elected, seven from the North Island and seven from the South Island. These, with 'the six members of Parliament who had taken , part in drafting the original scheme wore a committee appointed by regulation under the Act to elect the first members of the Control Board. “Five 'members Iwere accordingly elected, leaving two to be appointed by the Government and another who was recommended by the stock and station agents. The two members appointed toy the Government were Mr. David Jones and Mr. A. E. Harding, the latter particularly representing' the Auckland and Taranaki disrtricts, which up to then had not been Fgiven a representative. The Government took no part in the election of the.board, and had positively nothing to do with it. 1 i “I think Mr. W. D. Hunt, the nominee of the stock and station agents on the board, is personally interested in farming pursuits, and I am quite certain that all the other members of the board are farmers, and have the confidence of the farming community not only in their own districts, but right through the Dominion where they are known. “The board has started well, and I believe will do really good work.” COLLECTIONOF LEVY • FREEZING COMPANIES WILL NOT BEAR IT. BY TELEGBAPH—BEESS ASSOCIATION. ; Christchurch, March 24. Speaking at a meeting of the Canterbury A. and P. Association to-day Sir Francis Boys complained that the freezing companies had never been consulted as to the manner in which the meat pool levy was to be collected. It was little wonder, he said,-that the scheme was unbusinesslike. It was simply gazetted that the charges were to bo made, but no mention was made a.s to how the money was to be collected, If the intentions of the Government were borne out, then some means must be. found to pass on the levy to the producer. The luxury of the meat pool was for the benefit of the producers. He wished them luck, ' but he could assure them that the freezing companies need not bear the cost of the levy, and, what was more, would not bear it. Those on whoso account the tneat was shipped would have to pay the charge of Id. each carcass. DUNEDIN AUCTIONEERS’ SUGGESTION. Dunedin, March 24. ■iV meeting of Dunedin stock agents was held tq-day to consider the meat exporters’ claims to deduct the Control Board’s levy of a penny per head on sheep and. lambs bought either privately- or at auction. It was decided to resist this' method of collection on the grounds that the. Government regulation clearly stated that the amounts were payable on export. The discussion raised many other reasons against the method proposed. Dunedin auctioneers consider, therefore, that the'proper procedure to cover the charge is for the freezing companies to make an addition to their charges under which the buyers would automatically provide for it in their operations.