YSNAR'S MEAT WORKS BOMB

NZ Truth, Issue 973, 19 July 1924, Page 5

YSNAR'S MEAT WORKS BOMB

Charge Against Jones

Time That Massey Spoke,

The no-confidence debate has ended without Mr. W. D. Lysnar, M.P. for Gisborne, being detached from the Government m the division list. Mr. Lysnar made his quarrel over the sale of the Poverty Bay meat works to Vesteys (Nelsons) a quarrel not with the Government, but with two individuals — Mr. Nosworthy (who, as Minister for Agriculture, is a member of the Government) and Mr. D. Jones, the absent chairman of the Meat Producers Board. Mr. Lysnar further made his quarrel with Mr. Nosworthy impersonal, and he still further limited the issue by saying- that he did not dispute the mortgagee bank's power to force a sale of the mortgagors property, b~ut he did dispute the right of the Meat Producers* Board* or * the Minister (or both of them) 'to permit a sale to an alleged trust (Vesteys). The above " seems to be Mr. Lysnar s case m a nutshell. •' ' • ' .- * . The question of policy involved is so big that it seems to be impossible for the Prime Minister and, the Government to stand by with folded arms and say that it is only a row, between Mr Lysnar and one of the Ministers. The Prime Minister should have taken the earliest opportunity .to say whether he is behind the Minister for. Agriculture or not. The country has a right to know where the Prime Minister is on this sale to Vesteys as now disclosed. And the obligation on the Prime Minister is intensified by the disclosure m the debate a few nights ago that Mr. Lysnar has made certain charges against Mr. Jones, which, Mr. Lysnar says, would justify the Government m removing Mr. Jones from the Board. Admittedly, the absence of Mr. Jones from New Zealand complicates the matter; but Mr. Lysnar says that Mr. Jones had notice of the charges before leaving New Zealand. In any case,- the matter seems to call for a public statement by the Prime Minister. ; " Incidentally, Mr. Lysnar mentions that he lost £20,000 m this Poverty Bay meat works affair.