THE FREEZING INDUSTRY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19274, 12 March 1926, Page 10

THE FREEZING INDUSTRY.

An attempt has at last been made by the Minister of Agriculture to justify his action in forbidding the sale of theJWcllington Meat Export Company's assets—by refusing a transfer of its license —to the only buyer, and thus closing the only practical way of escape from its financial difficulties. After so much deliberation, his statement should leave nothing more to be said in defence of the Government's attitude, but the most careful study of its arguments fails to discover in them any substantial reason for the State's interference. Mr. Hawken apparently contends that the freezing industry should be independent of dealing in meat, but he' does not explain why separation of the two branches of the business would be advantageous, nor does he suggest any means of effecting the division. They have always been associated, the combination having been proved by experience to be the most' economical and therefore most profitable to the country. The operations of meat freezing and exporting companies have been convenient for farmers, and whatever their tendency may be the competition among them has undoubtedly been to the advantage of producers. The Government cannot deny that without making itself ridiculous; in-' deed, Mr. Hawken gives the private companies a certificate of good character. What then is the objec-; tion to these "outside" British companies? Mr. Hawken hints that there is a dangerous conspiracy among them to get the whole freezing industry into their own control, and the only warrant for this allegation is that some years ago it was considered necessary to prevent the entrance of the American Meat Trust into the Dominion. The reference is singularly unfortunate because, while Mr. Hawken now argues that outside companies should be kept out of the freezing business, the alarm over the American companies' activities was due to their buying of

meat for export—they never owned a freezing plant... To be consistent, Mr. Hawken should welcome all the American companies as buyers of meat, with no other restriction than th.at they should send their purchases to New Zealand companies for freezing. The Minister's statement is therefore no defence of his or the Government's action in departing from its policy of minding its own business and leaving other people to mind theirs. He has set up a fantastic bogey of "outside companies" plotting to establish a monopoly of the freezing industry, without even pausing to wonder why they have not done so at any time in the last forty years, when the opportunities were at least as favourable. Having failed to present even a plausible excuse for refusing the transfer, the Minister will be well advised to turn his attention to the objections against his decision, and, reviewing tho whole subject judicially and impartially, decide whether he has not made a mistake.