RAILWAYS BOARD

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22391, 11 April 1936, Page 13

RAILWAYS BOARD

MINISTER AND MEMBER PERSONAL ATTACK DENIED I ; MR. SULLIVAN'S STATEMENT [BY TELEGRAPH PRESS ASSOCIATION'] WELLINGTON, Thursday In a statement issued last evening the Minister of Railways, the Hon. D G. Sullivan, made reference to communications submitted to the press by Mr. D. Reese, of Christchurch, a member of the late Railways Board, in regard to the closing of the Railway Department's sawmill at Mamaku.

"I had hoped," said the Minister, "to have had tho opportunity of replying more fully in tho House last evening, but time did not permit of this before tho adjournment at midnight took place. The suggestion made by Mr. Reese that I attacked any man's honour in my statements has no foundation in fact. It arises from a distortion of my remarks by tho Opposition for party purposes, as a perusal of my Hansard proof makes perfectly clear. Remarks Against System "This is what I said in opening my speech on the second reading of the bill: 'lt will bo understood, therefore, that in saying tho things it is inevitable I must say about the board, I am speaking in an impersonal manner, and am dealing with principles. I have no intention of making personal reflections upon individual members of the board.' Later on I pointed out that L did not suggest anything improper, and in concluding my opening speech • I made use of these remarks: 'I know them (the members of the board) personally, and I repeat what I said in jiny earlier remarks, namely, that my comment is impersonal, and is directed against the system, not against individual members of the board.' "Subsequently, when replying to the debate on the second reading, I found it necessary to say, in reply to interjections, that I had nothing to withdraw, and it is oil this statement that Mr. Reese returns with a challenge. What I set out to indicate to the House and the country was the undesirable state of affairs from a commercial and national point of view, of having in control of a State trading department like the railways a body of parttime men who were actively interested and engaged in commercial pursuits that might easily conflict with the best interests of the department and their commercial competitors. "It was not the policy of the late Government to reveal particulars of accepted tender prices, and I felt that to place members of the Railways Board in possession of every detail regarding every tender of any magnitude was wrong in principle, and unfair to those who were competitors ip the same commercial field " Most Undesirable Feature "

"In this connection not only did the department supply every member of the board with a comprehensive statement of all tenders submitted, containing full details as to prices, physical properties and analysts' reports (where these were appropriate), but board members also retained these as their personal property. This, to my mind, was a most undesirable feature in regard to board control. "Coming now to the closing of the department's sawmill at Mamaku, this mill has a cutting capacity of approximately 3,250,000 superficial feet per year, and at the time it was closed was cutting approximately 3,000,000 ,super. feet per year. Departmental records show that the general manager and his executive officers were opposed to the closing of the mill on purely economic grounds, and in ■ this they were supported by the chairman of the 1 board, who recorded his dissent against the closing of the sawmill. "Turning now to the more personal side of the question, as it involves statements of fact, Mr. Reese states: 'Notwithstanding the fact that before my appointment to the board I did considerable business with the Railway Department, I have during my five years as a member of the board scrupulously refrained from any business dealings with the Railway Department. Neither my own firm nor my own firm's sawmilling company has either directly oc indirectly tendered for, or supplied, materials to the Railway Department.' "Illustration o! Point"

"I have in front of me departmental files, and I find that on November 29, 1934, the New Forest Sawmilling Company, Limited, of which Reese Brothers, Limited, are managing agents, and which Mr. Reese has described as 'my own mill,' quoted for the supply of 40,252 superficial feet of rimu timber. Again, on May 4, 1935, the West Coast Sawmillers' Association,, of which Mr. Heese was president, tendered for approximately 1,000,000 superficial feet of rimu timber. I am informed that 80 per cent of the sawmills on. the West Coast belong to the association. "The fact that Mr. Reese, in accordance with the usual practice of the Railways Board, was supplied with a statement of all the tenders in this case, is a good illustration of my earlier point."