SALE TO VESTEYS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 11 June 1925, Page 6

SALE TO VESTEYS.

MR. LYSNAR’S ADDRESS. HALF FINISHED. (BY TELEGRAPH PRESS ASSOCIATION.) Yv ELLINGTON, June 10. At the Meat Commission, Mr Lysnar continued his address. Mr Hislop cited figures to show that the bank’s loss was at least £40,000. He characterised Mr Lysnar’.s .statemerit to tlie contrary as a gross misuse of figures and an improper deduction to draw from the evidence before the commission. Mr Lysnar contended that, he had proved his point by analysing Mr Jolly’s own figures. Mr Hislop said that Mr Lysnar had arrived at his result by taking figures out of one statement and putting them into another. _ ■ The chairman: The commission will icok carefully into the matter later. Mr Lysnar. replying to an interjection by" Sir John Finlay, said that the Minister, having let one competitor in, and that the greatest and most dangerous of al| the trusts, .should have let them all in. He (Mr Lysnar) either would keep them all out or let them ai]; in. Sir John: So long as they will pay enough. Mr Lysnar said that he had been putting stock through Yestevs while the commission had been sitting. He admitted it. He made no bones about it. He had to put stock through Yesteys or make still greater sacrifices. Was he to blame for t-liat? He maintained that he was not; that the Minister was to blame for allowing Vesieys there. The Minister was failing in' his duty id allowing Yesteys to operate, hut since he did allow them to operate he held that he (Mr Lysnar) was legitimately, legally and rightly entitled to use' them. ’ The matter could not he (settled by counsel merely waving a hand and saying: “You use the works.” Mr Lysnar contended that there was nothing in Sir Francis Bell's evidence to .suggest that the Minister For Agriculture had not power to refuse the license to Vesteys if he ionsidered that the facts justified such refusal, and both Sir Francis Bell’s evidence and that of Mr Nosworthy showed that Cabinet and Sir Francis left the decision to Mr Nosworthy. The responsibility for the decision, 'herefore, he said, rested entirely upon Mr Nosworthv. The Government was not responsible, and from the first he (Mr Lysnar) had refused to hold the Government responsible. Sir John Findlay: But Sir Francis Bell distinctly said that he accepts the responsibility. Mr Lysnar: T don’t care. The Government was not responsible. He main-' tained that it was the Minister’s duty to refuse the license' unless Yesteys could show Cause why it should have been granted. At this Sir John Findlay laughed aloud.

At 5 p.m. Mr. Lysnar, in .replying to a question by the chairman, said that ho must confess that lie had not yet got half way through 'his address. (Ha tighter). He was quite willing to go on.

Sir John Findlay remarked that he could not but admire his friend’s capacity for going on. lint he must confess that his (Sir John’s) power to sit listening to him was not equal to Mr Lysnar’s power to go on. The commission adjourned till tomorrow.

■Sir John Findlay: We have Mr Lvs--1 uu:!.s assurance at an? rate that he will, not disappoint Vi.s by finishing tomorrow.

Mr Treadwell (to Mr Lysnar) : Will you finish this week?