TOBACCO INDUSTRY

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXVI, 28 September 1934, Page 2

TOBACCO INDUSTRY

MEETING AT MOTUEKA ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION ADOPTED A meeting of tobacco growers, at which about two hundred were present was held in Bowers’ Sample Room on Thursday afternoon. Mr S.G. Smith explained that the meeting had been called for the purpose of considering the rules and' constitution of a Tobacco Growers’ Association, to receive tlie report of the representatives, who attended tlie conference in Wellington and to appoint the officers of the Ass ciation. Regarding the appointment of officers tlie chairman stated, that, at the general meeting of growers, lie had been elected president and Mr N. J. Lewis, vicepresident, of the newly formed association. Since then meetings liad been held by growers and resolutions passed to the effect that only bona fide growers should be elected to the Association. If there was going to be any disruption of the Association through his presence, neither he nor Mr Lewis would stand’ in tlie light of tli e growers. Personally he wished to see growers pull together and, at present, it was necessary for them to do so. He understood that a number of growers felt that they should appoint tlieir own chairman. Assuming this to be the case he would act fairly towards all and vacate the chair. He thought however, that, as Mr Lewis and he had been responsible for drafting the Articles of Association they should be permitted to remain at the meeting to explain the articles to the growers. At this juncture Mr Smith vacated the chair. Mr Fred Hamilton remarked that in view of the fact that the Articles of Association gave growers all that they had asked for in the formation of an association —that only bona fide growers take office, _he thought that, in fairness to Mr Smith, he should be asked to occupy the chair for this meeting and moved accordingly. Mr A. E. Frv in seconding the motion, stated that Mr Smith had acted squarely with the growers and had given to them a good deal of his time. Mr Lewis expressed the hope that, when the Association functioned, growers would work solidly together. He believed that they should have their own officers and wished the Association every success. Mr Smith, who was unanimously elected chairman for the meeting, in returning thanks, said that like Mr Lewis he wished the Association success and hoped that the growers would act as one man and not be divided. ARTICLES OF ASSOCIATION Some considerable time was taken up in explaining the various Articles of Association and in answering the many questions in connection with same. Mr H. G. Stringer considered that the appointment of a president and vice-president was unnecessary. Mr'A. E. Fry reminded growers that at tlie last general meeting provision was made for such offices and asked for the chairman’s ruling on the matter. The chairman admitted that a motion for the appointment of a president and; vice-president appeared on the books and stated that" it would be necessary to rescind this motion before Mr- Stringer’s proposals could be'put into effect. ' Mr H. B. Everett moved that the resolution be rescinded. This was carried by a large majority. The meeting agreed that two delegates from each" of tlie five wards be appointed to the Association. Mr F. O. Hamilton (Nelson) expressed the hope that, after the Association had been properly constituted, there would not ever be any reference to Wills or National growers at an open meeting. For the welfare of the industry there could he only two sections in the Association, the one representing growers of air dried leaf and the other growers of flue dried. The question as to a grower being “contracted” with this or that company should never enter into the Association’s discussions.

WARDS The chairman stated that the committee proposed that certain adjustment be made to the existing wai'ds so as to give more equal representation. After a discussion the meeting agreed to adopt the suggested wards, which are as follows: —(1) Upper Moutere, Lower Moutei’e, Motueka; (2) Riwaka, including Brooklyn, Umukuri, the Shaggery, Sandy Bay and Awaroa; (3) Pangatotara, Ngatimoti, Orinoco, Pokororo; (4) Dovedale, Woodstock, Stanley Brook; (5) Waimea, Tadmor, Tapawera.

VOTING POWER The question of voting power of members of the Association provoked a good deal of discussion. In the Articles of Association it was suggested that up to 30001bs leaf a grower should have one vote and over 30001bs leaf two votes. Several amendments were moved and lost and finally it was decided, on the motion of Mr Eggers that each grower be entitled to one vote.

An annual subscription of 2s Cd per member was agreed to and also a levy for the ensuing year on the basis on Is per lOOlbs of leaf sold.

Mr A. J. Tarleton was appointed auditor and Mr B. T. Rowling to fill the combined offices of secretary and treasurer.

The fixing of the honorarium to be paid to the secretary was left to the executive.

_ The Articles of the Nelson Provincial Tobacco Growers’ Association with their amendments were adopted on the motion of Messrs A. J. Askew, and 0. C. Wilkinson.

A lieartv vote of thanks to Mr Harry Manoy for his services as treasurer was by Mr 0. 0. Wilkinson and carried by acclamation. It was pointed out by the chairman that as some of the wards had been altered it would be necessary to hold further meetings to elect their delegates to the Association.

Mr Fred Hamilton suggested that each ward appoint a committee to look after its own interests.

Mr A. E. Fry remarked on the sporting spirit displayed by Mr Smith in connection with his recent appointment to office and the circumstances that had arisen later, which had altered the position to the extent that growers only were appointed to office. He thought it was due to Mr Smith that growers record their appreciation of his services and moved accordingly. In seconding the motion Mr B. T. Rowling said he had been very closely associated with Mr Smith in connection with tobacco matters and he was sure that growers did not realise how

Valuable Mr Smith liad been to them. He was prepared to say that within twelve months they would commence to appreciate his work on tlieir behalf. Mr Smith liad often neglected his own business to attend to some important matter, concerning the tobacco industry. A vote of thanks did not go very far; and, if growers were sincere, they would go further and show their appreciation in a tangible manner. Mr Rowling added that he would leave it to the growers to take whatever action they thought fit. He was prepared to head the list. -In returning thanks Mr Smith agreed that- he had given up a good deal of his time to tobacco matters and assured growers that lie would still take a keen interest in the Welfare of the industry. The report of the growers’ representatives, who met the manufacturers and Government in conference, last week was presented by Mr Fry. Questions regarding manufacturers purchasing leaf, outside tlieir contracts and tlie contents of tlie proposed licenses, to be issued to growers were answered by the chairman.and Mr Fry. Mr 0. C. Wilkinson stated that, after hearing the report read, lie was ol the opinion that the tobacco industry had made a forward step, in that it had now been made possible for growers and manufacturers, through the Control Council, to be in close touch with one another. The chairman informed the meeting that he understood that the Government wished to know, at an early date, if growers were in support of a Control Council being formed with Statutory powers. He thought that growers in the various wards would like to talk the matter over before coming to a decision. Mr Eggers said the matter was. an important one, and every grower should have the opportunity of having the position explained to him and also be given a chance of voting on tlie question. The chairman stated that delegates would be prepared to attend meetings in the different wards provided the meetings were, held on separate nights. The dates on which meetings will be held in the five wards were fixed before the growers dispersed.

REPORT OF CONFERENCE

WITH MANUFACTURERS AND GOVERNMENT The following report was presented by Mr A. E. Fry, on behalf of tlie growers’ delegates, who met, in conference, tobacco manufacturers and the Government on 20tli September:— “Your representatives, Messrs B. T. Rowling, A. E. Fry and J. Balck, who were appointed to confer with tlie manufacturing companies and the Government on the question of tlie foi’ihation of a council, to control and regulate the tobacco growing industry, duly met in Wellington on the 20th instant. There were present seven representatives of the manufacturing companies and one representing the tobacco growers of Auckland. The meeting took the form of a round table talk and the whole question was amicably debated. Tli e growers’ proposals were put forward and discussed at length, and counter proposals were then advanced by the companies. These proposals and counter-proposals and the incidental details connected therewith are as follows:—Growers at the outset, as requested, re-stated their desire for a board and set out in fairly general terms their objective., and idea of powers, which should ,be given. These were:—- ... , \ | “The objective is to encourage and gradually develop the production of tobacco in New Zealand so far as this is a reasonably economic proposition. The suggested powei's of the Board would include:

(1) The determination of the total quantity required nationally. (2) To automatically grant licenses to growers having contracts from manufacturers and also tq grant licenses to growers on an approved basis for export, and also to growers of new companies, whose contracts conform to conditions as to gi'ade and price decided by the Board. (3) To fix grades suitable to manufacturers and in accordance with those of other countries.

(4) To fix prices for different grades, after taking into account cost of production and protection given by tariff and the interests of consumei's.

“After a general discussion the foregoing proposals were left to the manufacturers for consideration and the manufacturers duly met as a separate meeting. “The joint meeting resumed later in the day, when the manufacturers annoiuiced that they could not agree to all the proposals of the growers and submitted as their views the following:—‘The manufacturers are of opinion that an Advisory Board with equal representation of growers and manufacturers together with a Government representative, who shall act as chairman, be set up and that after consulting such Board, the Minister should grant licenses to grow tobacco, which licenses shall be based on contracts between growers and manufacturers and/or the estimated requirements of the manufacturers. No growing except under license.’ “Following a private discussion the manufacturers’ delegates took the responsibility of altering their suggested proposal to its present form, which involves a Statutory Board, which would actually determine upon and issue or refuse licenses. It was indicated, however, that all manufacturers were not prepared to agree to that proposal without some assurance in regard to their representation on the Board. Manufacturers’ final proposal now reads as follows:—‘The manufacturers are of opinion that a Statutory Board with equal representation of growers and manufacturers together with a Government representative. who shall act as chairman, be set up, and that such Board shall grant licenses to grow tobacco, whicli licenses shall be based ' on contracts between growers and manufacturers and/or the estimated requirements of the manufacturei’s. No growing except under license.’ “Upon resumption of the full meeting the growers’ representatives again endeavoured to secure an acceptance of the idea of grading and some price fixation, but the manufacturers would not agree. Growers’ meetings in Nelson had laid sti’ess on the matter and growers’ representatives indicated that they could not agree to the manufac-tiu-ers’ proposal (which is virtually limited to licensing) without further reference to the growers’ executive. The growers, therefore, agreed to the

manufacturers’ proposal as far as it went, but would prefer to go further and reserved the right to take the matter back to their executive. FINANCE “Tlie subject of finance was discussed and dealt with in the following resolution:- —“Resolved on the assumption that a Board is finally agreed upon,’ that the question of finance to cover expenses of Board, be dealt with by a levy of lOOlbs of tobacco sold to manufacturers, to be collected through manufacturers and that, until revenue is received, each appointee of the Board will bear his own expenses, recoverable when funds are available. In order to cover secretarial expenses until funds are available the growei's' representatives undertook (subject to the approval of, tlieir members) to advance the necessary sum, this to be re-imbursed when the Board revenues are in hand. It was contemplated, in discussion, that a levy on tlie coming season’s production would bring funds in about March 1935.

CONSTITUTION OF BOARD “The matter of the constitution of the Board was again considered. Growers had in view, as previously suggested, three representatives of each side and objected to a proposal for four from each side —evidently on the score of expense. Manufacturers, however, agreed to four from each party on tlie understanding that growers would reserve the point for .reference to their executive.

“It was agreed that the personnel of the Board should be appointed by the Minister, after consultation with the interests affected.

‘“ln. order to facilitate the drafting of legislation and the settlement of details a sub-committee, consisting of Mr K. J. Holyoake, Mr W. T. Raymond and Mr J. R. Ramsay (or his nominee, being a director of his company) was appointed to assist the Depai-tment. “It was further agreed that the legislation, when outlined, should be submitted for final review by the parties concerned.

“You will readily soe from the above that the companies have not so far agreed to all the growers’ proposals put before them, though they have gone a certain distance. We, as your representatives, are, however, strongly of tlie opinion that the following is tlie absolute minimum of tlie powers, Which the council slioul/l have in order to enable it to function successfully, and so as to be of any material benefit to the industry:—That the council shall have such powers as, wisely used, will have the effect of encouraging- and gradually developing tlie production of tobacco in New Zealand so far as that is a l-easonably sound economic proposition. “That the companies shall submit each season to the council the grades of leaf they contract for with their glowers, and that a minimum price, at least, be fixed for the lowest grade. “That growers be licensed according to the contracts issued by the present companies or any new companies and licenses be isued also to any growers (bona fidex growing for export. No growing except under license.

“We consider that, unless the council is given powers on tlie lines we have suggested, it will be of little use and we therefore urge the growers to stand firm on the minimum proposals we have outlined.

“If the council is so constituted then we firmly believe that the industry (will lie. placed on a better footing than it has ever'been: We would also impress on you the necessity of absolute loyalty and co-operation amongst the growers, if the council is ' to function smoothly and effectively and to enable the Industry to reap the benefits aimed at. “We believe further that the Government is anxious to assist the gi-owers in tlieir present difficulties; but the growei's must be prepai-ed in return to assist the Government.”