MEAT EXPORT CONTROL

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1034, 26 July 1930, Page 10

MEAT EXPORT CONTROL

BILL TO CHANGE FORM OF BOARD I SECOND READING PASSED Prtss Association PARLIAMENT BULDGS., Friday. Moving the second reading of the j Meat Export Control Amendment Bill, ' in the House of Representatives this I afternoon, Mr. W. D. Lysnar (Reform — j Gisborne) said it was designed to relax : tho control that the trusts held over ! the produce of the Dominion, i Tho fact that in 1928 £9,000,000 had j been lost on New Zealand meat pointed jto a very serious position. The object of the Bill in the first place was to j make the board representative of the i farmers, secondly, it sought to eliminI at© the commercial representative on j the board, and to eliminate the Govj ernment representative until the Govj ernment became financially involved in i the operations of the board. It was I further intended to remove the present j representatives on the board and to ( provide for a fresh election on the basis j of districts and number of producers, j There was nothing to prevent the pres- ! ent members standing, for re-election.

Other clauses in the Bill provided that overseas companies should not acquire a further interest in the freezing works in the Dominion, and should sell, their existing works to local companies, failing which they should be carried on on a joint basis. Mr. D. Jones (Reform —Mid-Canter-bury) said in estimating that £9,000,000 had been lost on New Zealand meat in 1928 Mr. Lysnar had not made any allowance for freight and handling of the produce. Mr. Jones declared that the New* Zealand farmer had been getting more out of meat than anyone else. Th© freezing companies had had to carry a Joss because they had bought meat at a higher price than was justified by the time it had been marketed. He further contended that in view of the quantities of lamb that had been marketed this year the pi'ices obtained by the farmer had been satisfactory. It was only tho advertising and the organisation of the Meat Board that had resulted in the position being as satisfactory as it was. If it had not been for the exceedingly careful manner in which the arrivals on the market had been regulated and tho cautious control of the people who had purchased the meat the New Zealand producers would have been in a worse position today. Mr. Jones insisted it was not true that trusts were operating against the producers, who could always get an open market at Home. The Prime Minister, the Hon. G. W. Forbes, suggested that the matter was ono that could be investigated by the Agricultural and Stock Committee. It would be preferable that the matter should be threshed out there than on tho floor of the 3 Louse. Evidence could be carefully investigated and the finding of the committee would go a long way toward giving the House an indication of the merits of the Bill. Air. Lysnar: That’s quite satisfactory to me. Mr. H. G. Dickie (Reform— Patea) said tho big freezing companies were a menace to the industry in New Zealand. He expressed approval of most of the principles in the Bill. Mr. A. Hamilton (Reform—Wallace) was proceeding to defend the constitution of the Meat Board when Mr. W. J. Poison (Independent—Stratford) appealed to him not to “talk the Bill out.” Mr. Hamilton, continuing, said ho believed Mr. Lysnar was injuring the interests of the producers by bringing the subject into politics. He was not expressing the opinion of the body of sensible farmers. Mr. Lysnar, in reply, said it was not correct that he had not allowed for tho freight and handling of meat in computing the loss at £9.000,000. The Bill was read a second time and referred to the Agricultural apd Pastoral Industries and Stock Committee.