COMMERCIAL TRUSTS ACT.

Mataura Ensign, 30 November 1912, Page 5

COMMERCIAL TRUSTS ACT.

PEE UNITED PRESS ASSOCIATION. WELLINGTON, Nov. 30. 1 Continuing his address in the Com- , mercial Trusts Act case to-day Mr Skerrett, K.C., who appears for the Merchants' Association, said the statement had been made that the merchants had made a profit of a little under £29,000 in a year. That statement was merely forensic. The whole of the sum was the gross profit, from which had to be deducted expenses incurred in earning that profit. There had also been a suggestion that the Merchants' Association had been lacking in candor. When he said that the association held its meetings half-yearly and had produced the minutes for March and August, 1911, it would, counsel said, be seen thfct 'here was no ground for this statement. In reply to further argument his Honor said the Act had been passed to Ideal witli a small phase of the trusts problem. The Legislature had not ; roll ibited trusts altogether nor dealt with profits or prices, but it had said certain things wero to bo illegal.

Mr Skerrett said that the statute should be given restricted limited meaning. Read literally, a definition of a trust would include any company or corporation that carried on the business of manufacturing, selling or trading in goods.

His Honor: But it is not a crime to be a commercial trust so there is no harm in making this definition wide. Judgment was reserved.