DAIRY CONTROL

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 138, 15 June 1927, Page 8

DAIRY CONTROL

MR. PATERSON'S POSITION

A LETTER TO MR. GROUNDS

Messrs. Morison, Smith, and Morison, Wellington, have furnished to "The PoBt" a copy of a letter they have forward** to Mr. William Grounds, chairman of th* Dairy Produce Export Board. Their reasons given for asking publication of the letter in full are: (1) "A great deal of publicity has been given to the case against Mr. Paterson," and (2) the letter make, "an important proposal for an inquiry into the position." The letter is as follow*:— w-iv WeHington, 14th June, 1927. William Grounds, Esq Chairman, M. Dairy Produce Export Control Board, Wellington. forJT,H Sir> ~ I We -Write to you « heater. a i asrr J £rar Uw on tho Produce Exporter" of the 28th WarchuU? containing what purports to be your v£ tlt h? hl8t01?o£ Mr- e*™V^ re^ntalivr^rwtt °T2£« week* after the publication rf ycrar^ «tatem«,t Mr. l'atenon, theref^ d££ not cou«der it necessary or desirable that he should at thw stage enter into a discussion «f the merit* or demerits of price faction of dairy produce in London. That A", ' f P°JntK out to us, ig already settled, unfortunately at tbe%xpe wTof Net Zealand in general and New Zealand oW farmers an particular. Nor does Mr Paterson regard it as his concern at the moment to answer what he regard* as specious propaganda by yourself and somVof your supporters _ whose policy has brought the actual results achieved by price fatation to the dairy industry of New ZeaJand and the. interests of the Dominion am a whole. But it is his concern—and it is for that purpose that this letter is ■written—to repudiate what he regards as your gross misrepresentation of hig actions aa xsew Zealand Government representative on the London Agency of the Control .Board. And m that connection, Mr. ,Pat* erson would welcome the opportunity before a- Royal Commission or other appropriate, tribunal appointed to inquire into the reasons for the failure of the board's policy of absolute control and .price fixation, of having his own actions fully isvestigated. ... .

Mr. Paterson also desires us to remind you that while you were in London~yoU/ had several conversations with him under a clear and definite pledge.of strict confidence on both sides. He desires us; to point out that for the purposes of your attack upon him. you have not hesitated to refer freely to those conversations. In his view your attack contains some complete misstatements of fact. It distorts and misrepresents both his confidential conversations with you and-the general aims and effect of his work, and it insinuates a responsibility on his part for many happenings with which he was in no wayconcerned.

It would be useless to attempt, to. carry matters further at this stage, because' aswe have-already said Mr. Patersonis still in London, and unable" by reason of his absence to continue a controversy with you now. But he expects to be baek;:in,New Zealand not later than October, and if you then desire any public investigation, such as that for example which would be"' afforded by a Royal Commission, into the affairs of the Control Board and the tru». history of the actions of its chairman, and. certain of its members and of himself as the Government, representative on the London Agency, and into the real'causes of what he alleges are the disastrous "results of the board's policy, -we assure you that Mr. Paterson will be delighted to join with you in endeavouring to hay» such an investigation brought about.

In view of the fact that your attack* on Mr. Paterson have been of the most public character, we are instructed to> hand copies of this letter to the newspaper Press, and we are accordingly adopting that course.—Yours faithfully,

MORISON, SMITH, AND MORISON, Solicitors for Mr. Stronach Paterson, lat# Government Representative on th« London Agency of the N.Z. Dairy Pro* duce Control Board.