PUBLIC HEARING SOUGHT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 12 January 1940, Page 3

PUBLIC HEARING SOUGHT

BEFORE PRICE TRIBUNAL WHAKATANE PAPER MILLS’ POSITION MANAGING DIRECTOR’S COMMENT [United Press Association] AUCKLAND, 11th January. “I have read the comments of Mr Sullivan on my statement dealing with the impossibility of Whakatane Paper Mills, Limited, carrying on production at the prices fixed by the Price Investigation Tribunal,” states the managing director of the company, Mr Horrocks, in a further statement issued to-night. “It is no doubt true that various Government officers have recommended j against the increase in prices which i the company asked for. It is, however, equally true that I was afforded no opportunity of reading or, Rearing any j statements or recommendations made by such Government officers to the tribunal, neither was 1 afforded any right of cross-examination, without the test of which their evidence is comparatively valueless. The right to appiy such a test has long been recognised in all British courts as essential in the establishment of facts; it is indeed, a part of the natural justice in the administration of courts. Without such a test it is idle to found charges of inefficiency, excessively high salaries and partial production. INCREASED PRICES “We should welcome now a public hearing before the Price Tribunal of our application for increased prices, with the right to cross-examine those Government officers and other witnesses, if any, who are opposed to the increased asked for. We recognise that the public interest must be fully protected. The public, therefore, is entitled to know whether this new and very important industry is justified in its claims or whether such claims are groundless. A public inquiry by the tribunal in which ordinary rules of courts of justice asLfcb -evidence were followed, would enable the public td learn the real facts.

“It is our earnest wish to be fair not only to the company’s shareholders but also to the public. As Mr Sullivan also so emphatically desires to be fair, he will perhaps use his influence to obtain such a public hearing as I suggest. AT FULL CAPACITY “Without being unduly prolix, I should like to add that the company’s plant is working at full capacity, that no specific information of ‘inefficiency’ has been given to me, and that even if no allowance at all were made in costing for executive salaries this could not reduce the price of the company’s product by more than £1 a ton. “It will be seen, therefore, that an order which substantially fell short of the company’s requirements and will involve unprofitable operations compels cessation of production. The company only asks for such fair treatment as it can justify in a publiclyheld tribunal.”