MEAT EXPORT LICENSES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17844, 27 July 1921, Page 6

MEAT EXPORT LICENSES.

POSITION OF ARMOURS. REASONS FOR REFUSAL. [BY TELEGEAFH. —OWN' CORRF.SPOKDE.VT.'! WELLINGTON'. Tuesday. Correspondence that has pa=-srd the American Consul-General and the NewZealand Government regarding the refusal of the Government to issue a meat export license to Armour and Company of Aus- ' tralasia, is to be published shortly. The ' discussion has not reached finality, but it ' is anticipated further communications from the United States Government on • the subject will come through the regular - channel via London. When the United States Government first asked why the license had been re • fused, the Acting-Prime Minister, Sit Francis Bell, mentioned in his reply thai 1 the New Zealand Government had beea ' guided by the adverse report of the > Federal Trade Commission on the operations of the large American meat pack--1 ing firms. The Consul -General, in reply ! on this point, has stated that the com- • mission's investigation was not a judicial trial, that its report was not a judicial decision, and that it expressed merely the views of the commissioners. This estimate of the force of the Federal Trad a Commission's report is not confiSned by the information at th© disposal of the New Zealand authorities. The report appears to have been accepted by the Gov- - eminent of the United States, and one of its results was the separation of the large 1 companies that had constituted the meat ' trust. Armour and Co. was one of thosa s concerned. Since tben the American law ; against the operations of trusts within the United States has been strengthened, but the legislation does not prohibit the use of trust organisation and trust • methods in the foreign trade of the ; United States. , The New Zealand Government ia I making further inquiries on the point.