DAIRY PRODUCERS’ BOARD

Evening Star, Issue 19408, 17 November 1926, Page 8

DAIRY PRODUCERS’ BOARD

CONFIDENTIAL CABLEGRAMS DISCUSSION [PteK United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, November 17. The Dairy Producers’ Board began its monthly meeting this morning, when all the members now in New Zealand were present except Mr Goodfellow (who was granted leave of absence on account of private business) and Mr Timpany (from whom no explanation of his absence was received). The Acting Chairman of tho board (Mr Thacker) remarked that ho had in-teiu-.d to comment on the unjustified publication of confidential cablegrams by Mr Timpany, and hfc would have preferred to do so in Mr Timpany'.s presence. He strongly disapproved of Mr Timpany’s action, and assured the board that it was without his (Mr Thacker's) authority or sanction. Mr Timpany’s action was quite outside any business procedure, particularly as regarded the cable from the Prime Minister. That cable had been received by the board by the courtesy of the Minister of Agriculture, and it was quite outside the bounds of etiquette and procedure to publish it. Ho strongly and emphatically protested against such publication. Other members briefly concurred with the chairman’s remarks, tho comment, however, in Mr Timpany’s absence being restrained. The secretary (Mr Brash') strongly objected to a suggestion that cables received had been held back from the board. Tho Prime Minister’s cable, Mr Brash stated, had been immediately read to the board on its receipt from the Minister of Agriculture by a special messenger, and the Minister, following a telephone message, had sent the cable on without delay after receiving it. The following resolution was unanimously passed:—“That this board deprecates tho publication of cables and confidential information by individual members of the board, as such information and documents are not the property of individual members i hut of the board itself.”