NEW ZEALAND TIMES COMPANY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1106, 12 May 1893, Page 33

NEW ZEALAND TIMES COMPANY.

EXTRAORDINARY GENERAL MEETING.

An extraordinary general meeting of the shareholders of the New Zealand Times Company (Limited) was held in the Chamber of Commerce on Wednesday afternoon in pursuance of an advertisement inserted in the paper by order of the Supreme Court. The Managing Director (Hon W. P. Reeves) presided, and there was a large attendance of shareholders. Mr Jelliooe asked that there should be placrd on the table the original requisition asking the directors to convene this meeting. It purported to be signed by several shareholders, and amongst others by Mr Harcourt, who assured him (Mr Jelliooe) that the document be was asked to sign by the manager (Mr A. Brown) was in Mr Brown's handwriting as far as he could form an opinion, and that it containei no reference whatever to tbe removal of any person or persons from the directorate. The document Mr Harcourt was asked to sign was a requisition, so he was* led to understand, to the directors to convene a mteting for the purpose of terminating the difficulties whioh had arisen io regard to several members on the board. Other persons had also given him a similar assurance. He also asked that a letter which he had written to the secretary of the company, at the instance of Sir Robert Stout, should be read, whioh Sir Robert Stout bed assured him should be done.

The Chairman said he had not the least objection to read the letter referred to. He was not aware of any assurance being given by Sir Robert that it should be read. With regard to the conversation between Mr Harcourt and Mr Jelliooe, as to the requisition being in Mr Brown's handwriting, it was a little unfortunate that the document to which Mr Haroourt'a name was appended was type-written,and therefore not in anybody's handwriting, besides which it contained a specific statement as to the removal of a gentleman from the Board of Directors. The letter from Mr Jelliooe to the secretary of the company waß as follows :—' I deeply regret the cirourastances that have occurred which led to the disagreement among the directors of the company ; I became a shareholder not for the purpose of financial gain, but solely in the interests of the political party with which I am allied. I recognise its future is of more importance 'to the Colony than the personal gratification of any one man, and to end all disagreements, and at the instance of my friend, Sir Robert Stout, I have resolved to withdraw at present from the directorate. I therefore resign my position as director, and ask that you will alter the advertise* ment accordingly, aud also that you will read this letter to the shareholders.'

Mr J, Young then moved the first resolution as follows :—'That Mr Martin Kennedy, of Wellington, gentleman, bo appointed or eleoted a director in the place of Thos. Kennedy Maodonald, the retiring dlreotor.' The resolution found a seconder in Mr Sainsbury, and was carried on th« voices. In the course of a discussion of a conversational charaoter that ensued, Mr A. A. Barnett stated that in order to save tho trouble of a poll he would withdraw his candidature for a seat on the directorate. (Applause.) Mr Young then moved the second resolution, 'That Mr John Piimmer, a retiring director, be reappointed.' The resolution was seconded by Mr O'Dea, and carried unanimously. Mr Young moved, ' That Mr E. G. Jellicoe be removed from the office of director of the company, and that Mr A. Collins, of Wellington, baker, be appointed or elected in his place.' Mr R. A. Loughnan seconded the resolution.

Mr Jellicoe then addressed the meeting at some length. In the course of his remarks he said that but for the respect in which he held Sir Robert Stout- he should not have signed the letter whioh had been received by the chairman ; the arrangement come to between himself and Sir Robert had not been adhered to, and therefore the onus of breaking the arrangement must rest with the chairman. Mr Jellicoe then went on to refer to the differences which had existed on the Board of Directors. The first was with regard to the disposal of certain shares, in which he opposed certain action suggested by the Managing Director. Then there was a complaint made by him of too much space being given up in the paper to interviewing and reporting the Minister for Public Works, and the notice of ' The Gondoliers,' following whioh came tho matter of the Ah Ching enquiry, in respect to whioh he olaimed that as a director he had a perfect right to see the manuscript of the artlolo which was published, although he did not claim that he had a right to see letters sent to the editor for publication. He then went on to refer at great length to the action taken by the Managing Direotor and Others with regard to balloting for retiring

directors and the attempt to place Mr John Youug ou the directorate. He charged Messrs Reeves and Wavburton with treating Mr John Piimmer, the oldest and moat respeoted Liberal in Wellington, with gross unfairness, and also with violating an understanding arrived at with Mr Maodonald and himself. He then mentioned several matters of management with which he disagreed, concluding by a reference to the work he had done during his couneotion with the paper since its inception.

Tbe Minister for Lands said if he had come to the meeting predisposed to support Mr Jellicoe, the speeoh he had just delivered would oonvince him that Mr Jellicoe was quite unfit to be a direotor of the company. For the future, if he was ssked to assist in forming a company in Wellington, tho first question he would ask would be ' Was Mr Jellicoe a member of that company,' and if the answer was in the affirmative, he should certainly have nothing to do with it. With regard t« the New Zealand Times he remarked that he had never asked anyone connected with it to assist him as a Minister of the Crown, and was always willing to accept suoh oritioism or praise, as the public press thought proper to give him. It appeared to him that Mr Jellicoe wished to use the paper for his own euds, and, on failing to do so, immediately turned round and dragged the affairs of the company before the public. No direotor who would do what he had done was worthy of retaining such a position any longer. Mr R. A. Loaghnan, editor of the New Zealand Times, said that with regard to Mr Jellicoe's claim to see the manuscript of correspondence or articles, he held that an editor of a newspaper had to protect thoße people who wrote to him in any shape or form ; he was the father confessor of those people, and was responsible for everything. He was responsible to his directors of course, and primarily to the Managing Director. In order to fortify himself against that meeting he had submitted the facts relating to Mr Jelliooe's conduct in regard to the manuscript of the article which Mr Jellicoe had claimed the right to see, and to the publication of the correspondence, to tho manager of a very large company in Australia, and asked for his opinion upon them.

Mr Jellicoe : I should like to cross.examine him.

Mr Loughnan: If you did not crossexamine him any better than the fist you made of your case just now, you would not get anything oat of him. (Laughter.) To enable the gentleman to form a correct opinion of the case he (Mr Loughnan) forwarded to him a statement of the facts of the case, much the same as he had read at a meeting of directors. That gentleman, a journalist of high standing, had approved emphatically of the oourse adopted, as his letter, which Mr Loughnan read, showed. Mr Loughnan then detailed his conduct in the Ah Ching case very minutely, explained that the Minister of Public Works was not the only person ever interviewed id the paper, that the reply of the Railway Commissioners was given with equal fulness; he defended the Gondolier critique, and concluded with a hope that he had justified his action in seconding this resolution. Mr Arthur Warburton denied absolutely the statement of Mr Jellicoa about the shares, and vindicated the action of Mr Reeves and other directors in that matter, and also with regard to the matter of the balloting for retiring direc ors. After some further discussion, The Chairman said at the inception of the company he had telegraphed from Christohurch to Wellington saying that he was distinctly in favour of labour representation on the provisional directorate, and to have a voloe in the paper ; he had always borne that in mind, and it was his wish when an opportunity arose that Mr Collins should be put on the board, as a representative of unionism in Wellington. He knew nothing whatever of the Ah Ching correspondence, as he was in Christohurch at the time, and with regard to the alleged estrangements, Mr Jellicoe knew perfectly well there was no estrangement up to the Ah Ching affair. Mr Jellicoe never complained of his management, he supported him in every way, ani the real griev<uioe was that he would not allow Mr Loughnan's throat to be out for aoting as a gentleman and a man of honour during his (the chairman's) absance. (Applause.) Mr Vaney corroborated Mr Reeves about the labour representation on the paper, having Been a telegram of hia from Christ. church to that effect. Mr T. K. Macdonald then addressad the meeting, saying that it was not desirable in the interests of the company that there should be any more friction in the matter. The object of the company was to have a paper in Wellington supported by all classes of the Liberal Party, that everyone who took it should feel that it was an organ of which he could be proud, and that be would do his best for its interests. But they found during the twe!vemon>hß of its existence constant disagreement in regard to the affairs of the company. As a late director, he said he was not in any sense responsible for the difficulties; he endeavoured to do his duty as director from the start, and that arose from the fact that the chairman had gone upon the erroneous assumption that he was the ruler of the board, and must have a majority who would register what he thought proper. Ha (Mr Macdonald) only desired that the company should be conducted economically, in a fashion likely to lead to tho advancement of the Liberal cause. He hoped the company would have a long and prosperous career $ he himself would do everything in his power to briDg about that result, but he warned the company that they were not going to work in a proper manner. The sooner they made it the organ of the Liberal Party, one to be respected and feared throughout the length and breadth of this country, the better It would be for them.

The resolution was put to the meeting and carried.

Ou the motion of Mr John Young, seconded by Mr Sainsbury, it was agreed, 'That the company disapproves of the use of tho name of the company as a plaintiff in action 5401, and desirea that its name be

removed from the proceedings as a plaintiff.' On the motion of Mr J. Young, seconded by Mr R. A. Loughnan, it was further resolved, ' That Mr E. G. Jellicoe does not represent tho majority of the shareholder!) in the company.' By tho advioe of Mr Stafford, solicitor to tbe company, the resolution ' that tha shareholder of the company desire that Thomas Kennedy Macdonald and Edwin George Jellicoe do not aot as directors of the company ' was withdrawn. Mr Russell then moved, in accordance with notioe, ' That it is not conduoive to the interests of the shareholders that tbe office of Managing Director of the oompany should be held by a Minister of the Crown.' In speaking to the motion he said he made uo attack upon the Minister for Education, he looked upon it purely m a matter of principle as a Liberal, and as a matter of business. He had carefully watched the progress of the party from the beginning, and hoped it would improve as it went on. The improvement he looked for never came, and he contended that they should get some independent gentleman to run the paper, because it was not conducive to its well, being to be managed by a Ministar of the Crown. Instead of getting politics they got partv, which was not what they wanted ; a 9 a Liberal organ let it be liberal and maintain its position as such. Mr J, H. Heatou seconded the motion.

Mr O'Dea and Mr Barnett spoke against the resolution, and warmly defended the Managing Direotor. Messrs Hutchison and Heaton supported tho resolution, and Mr Macdonald did tho same, adversely criticising trie management at some length. Referring to the matter of the shares he said he had stood out against the othermembers of the board single-handed, and had aoted in the best interests of the shareholders.

Tho Chairman said he would not say one word about the resolution, being content to leave it to the shareholders.

Mr Russell replied. He repeated that he imputed nothing whatever to Mr Reeves. He looked upon him as an able msn, one who artvooated their oause in an able and intelligent manner, and it was only by the way in whioh be had stood up in many respects that he had brought their Liberal organ to the front. However, be thought the fact of hia holding the position of Managing Director would be injurious to him in his Ministerial capacity, on account of the newspaper criticisms it brought upon him, which must be very unpleasant to him, and to the whole of them who believed in him and looked upon him as a staunch party man. The Chairman then put the resolution, whioh he declared to be lost on the voices.

A show o! hands, a poll having been called for, was subsequently taken, when it was lost by 39 to 6. "Thereupon the demand for a poll was withdrawn., The meeting then oonoluded with a vote of thanks to the Chairman.