WELLINGTON MEAT WORKS.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 30 January 1926, Page 4

WELLINGTON MEAT WORKS.

REFUSAL OF TRANSFER. -•' '■ » G QVHR.NGMiENT’ S ACTION DISCUSSED. (l’.Y TMI.KGKAPH —P BBSS ASSOCIATION.) WELLINGTON. Jan. 29. Interviewed this afternoon with regard to the refusal of the Government to l approve' the transfer of the Wellington Meat Company's license to Thomas Bortliwick and Sons, Ltd., Mr. J. Milne, general manager of the company, said his directors were so surprised at the action of the Minister for Agriculture (Hon. O. J. Haw ken) that they could only assume that, owing to the recent Cabinet changes, this important matter had no received the consideration it deserved. '“The depreciation of any assets by an act of the Government without compensation is so far without precedent in New Zealand, and the only reason given. —public policy—is certanly too indefinite to' justify such a. course of action,”i remarked Mr. Maine. “The firm of Bor til wick’s is so well and favourably known, both in New Zealand and in England, that the directors of the Meat Export Company felt confident that no obstacle would be put in the way of the transfer. j “If the Minister had in mind tb» curtailing of the operations Borthwiek and Bon.s in tlie North Is* land, he is certainly not going to do so by his action. The firm in question already owns two small works conveniently situated to good shipping ports, and there is nothing to prevent it enlarging the capacities of these works to enable it to draw extensively on stock in the Wellington province with very little extra cost. “The extraordinary part of the business, therefore, is that while the value of the assets of the Wellington Meat Export Co. is .seriously depreciated by the action of the Minister, Messrs Borthwiek and Sons are in no wise re* stricted as to. the development of their operations. Their present licenses enable them to operate m any part of New Zealand, and their competition generally has been welcomed: by the producer. As a matter of fact, their only reason for considering the proposal to purchase the' Wellngton Meat Export Company’s lambs, of which they make a feature in their distributing trade.’2 A PROTEST LODGED. Mr. J. Milne has written to the Minister of Agriculture complaining of publication in the press of the refusal to transfer the license before it had reached the company. He urges the Minister to furnish reasons for the refusal of the transfer “on grounds of public policy,” and says that a grave injustice will be done to the shareholders of a company of forty-five years’ existence unless the transfer is agreed to. Bortliwicks were the. only buyers. The company tried to .sell to other companies, without result, before approaching Borthwicks. The company consider that a. dangerous precedent will be created by the refusal to transfer, and it must react, prejudically to the interests of the Dominion.