BUSINESS DEAL

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 53, 30 August 1940, Page 9

BUSINESS DEAL

SOUND EQUIPMENT

BOUGHT FROM MR. COATES

"A POOR PRICE"

The story of a business deal, wherein the Government, for the sum of £700, bought from a prominent member of the Opposition a camera and sound equipment originally purchased for £4000, was briefly unfolded in the House of Representatives today, when the Rt. Hon. J. G. Coates (National, Kaipara) explained a clause in the Finance Bill indemnifying him, as a member of Parliament, against any penalty for his part in the deal. The Minister of Finance (the Hon. W. Nash), in moving the second reading of the Bill, remarked that it was a good bargain. Mr. Coates confirmed this later. "I think the price paid was a very poor j one," he remarked. WHAT MR. NASH SAID. j Mr Coates said that he had been receiving £2 a week rent from the Government for sound equipment, and Mr. Nash had informed him that if he continued to receive that he would be out of Parliament and that it had to stop. Mr. Coates explained that he was concerned in the business, but there, was legal argument as to where he actually stood. "For the last two years," he said, "the Government has had the use of this equipment, and I have not had one penny. Then a price was arranged, and I think it was a very poor price, too. The equipment cost over £4000, and the Government got it for their Miramar studios for £700." ' The Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes (National, Hurunui): Did they pay any sales tax? Mr. Coates: I don't know anything about that, but I think I am entitled to a little thanks for the time the machine was in use.