THE DAIRY BOARD

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVII, Issue 168, 15 June 1927, Page 4

THE DAIRY BOARD

MR STRONACH PATERSON’S POSITION. DESIRE FOR INQUIRY. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, June 14. Messrs Morison, Smith and Morison, solicitors for Mr Stronach Paterson, late Government representative on the London agency of the New Zealand Dairy Produce Control Board, to-day forwarded the following letter to Mr William Grounds, chairman of the New Zealand Dairy Produce Export Control Board: — “We write to you as solicitors for and under instructions from Mr Stronach Paterson, until lately of the New Zealand Government agency of your board. Mr Paterson has had brought under his notice various New Zealand newspapers, including the New Zealand Dairy Produce Exporter of March 26 last, containing what purports to be your version of the history of Mr Paterson’s actions in Ins capacity as such Government representative. You were, of course, aware at the time when you made your attack upon Mr Paterson that oven if he desired to reply it was impossible for him to do so for a period of at least several weeks. To reply, in detail now after such a lapse of time is obviously of very little use, particularly because such reply might well give rise to further controversy; and again Mr Paterson’s reply to you could not by reason of liis absence in England be published until the lapse of many weoks after publication of your own statement.

“Mr Paterson therefore does not consider it necessary or desirable that he should at this stage enter into a discussion of the merits or demerits of price-fixation of dairy produce in London. That issue, he points out to us, is already settled —unfortunately at the expense of New Zealand in general and the New Zealand dairy farmers in particular. Nor does Mr Paterson regard it as his concern at the moment to answer what ho regards as specious propaganda by yourself -and some of your supporters whose policy has brought the actual results achieved by price-fixation to the dairy industry of New Zealand and the interests of the Dominion as a whole. But it is his concern and it is for that purpose that this letter is written to repudiate what he regards as your gross misrepresentation of his actions as New Zealand Government representative on the London agency of the Control Board, and in that connection Mr Paterson would welcome an opportunity to appear before a Royal Commission or other appropriate tribunal appointed to inquire into the reasons for the failure of the board’s policy of absolute control and price-fixation and of having his own actions fully investigated. , . “Mr Paterson also desires us to remind you that while you were in London you had several conversations with him under the' clear and definite pledge of strict confidence on both sides, fie desires us to point out that for the purposes of your attack upon him you have not hesitated to refer freely to those conversations. In his view your attack contains some complete misstatements of fact. It distorts and misrepresents both his confidential conversations with you and the general aims and effect of his work, and it insinuates responsibility on his part for many happenings with which he was in no way concerned. “It would be useless to attempt to carry matters further at this stage because as we haye already said Mr Paterson is still in London and unable by reason of his absence to continue

the controversy with you now. But he expects to be back in Now Zealand not later than October and if you then desire any public investigation such as that, for example, which would be afforded by a Royal Commission into the affairs of the Control Board and the true history of the actions of its chairman and certain of its members and of himself as Government representative on the London agency, and into the real causes of what he alleges are the disastrous results of the board’s policy wo assure you that Mr Paterson will be delighted to join with you in endeavouring to have such investigation brought about. In view of the fact that your attacks on Mr Paterson have been of the most public character we are insi ructed to hand copies of this letter to the newspaper press and we aro accordingly adopting that course.” COMMENT BY MR. GROUNDS. Interviewed to-night on the matter, the chairman of the Dairy Control Board (Mr W. Grounds) made the following comment: —“There has been no misrepresentation and no misstatement of fact, and if a commission of inquiry could remove the harm that has been done I would gladly welcome it. But the damage can never be repaired. I shall bo prepared for the fullest investigation at any time.”