MR. GROUNDS CHALLENGED

Taranaki Daily News, 15 June 1927, Page 9

MR. GROUNDS CHALLENGED

MR. S. PATERSON UP IN ARMS .royal commission suggested BREACH OF CONFIDENCE ALLEGED. LONDON MEMBER TAKES ACTION. By Telegraph.—Press Association. Wellington, Last Night. Messrs. Morison. Smith and Morison, solicitors for Mr. Stronach Paterson, late Government representative on the London agency of the New Zealand Dairy Produce Control Board, to-day forwarded the following letter to Mr. William Grounds, chairman of the New Zealand Dairy Produce Export Control Board: — “Dear sir,—We write to you as solicitors for and under instructions from Mr. Stronach Paterson, until lately New Zealand Government representative on the London agency of your board. Mr. Paterson has had brought under his notice various New Zealand newspapers, including the New Zealand Dairy Pro J duce Exporter, of March 26 last, containing what purports to be your version of the history of Mr. Paterson’s actions in his capacity as Government representative. “You were, of course, aware at the time when you made your attack upon Mr. Patersen, that even if he desired to reply it was impossible for him to do so for a period of at least several weeks. To reply in detail now, after such a lapse of time, is obviously of very little use, particularly because such a reply might well give rise to further controversy, and again Mr. Paterson’s reply to you could not, by reason of his absence in England, be üblished until the lapse of many weeks after the publication of your own statement. “Mr. Paterson, therefore, does not consider it necessary or desirable that he should, at this stage, enter into a discussion of the merits or demerits of price-fixation of dairy produce in London. That issue he points out to us, is already settled, unfortunately at the expense of New Zealand in general and New Zealand dairy farmers in particular.

“Nor does Mr. Paterson regard it as his concern, at the moment, to answer what he regards as specious propaganda by yourself and some of your supporters, whose policy has brought the actual results achieved by price-fixation to the dairy industry of New Zealand and the interests of the Dominion as a whole, but it is his concern, and it is for that purpose that this letter is written, to repudiate what he regards as your gross misrepresentation of his actions as New Zealand Government representative on the London agency of the Control Board and, in that connection, Mr. Paterson would welcome the opportunity, before a Royal Commission or other appropriate tribunal appointed to inquire into reasons for the failure of the board’s policy of absolute control and price-fixing, of having his own actions fully investigated. “MT. Paterson also desires ns to remind you that while you were in London, you had several conversations with him under a clear and definite pledge of strict confidence on both sides. He desires us to point out that, for the purposes of your attack upon him, you have not hesitated to refer freely to those conversations. In his view, your attack contains some complete misstatements of fact, it distorts and misrepresents both his confidential conversations with you and the general aims and effect of his work, and it insinuates responsibility on his part for many happenings with which he was in no way concerned. “It would be useless to attempt to carry matters further at this stage because, as we have already said, Mr. Paterson is still in London and is unable, by reason of his absence, to continue the controversy with you now, but he expects to be back in New Zealand not later than October, and if you then desire any public investigation such as that, for example, which would be afforded by a Royal Commission, into the affairs of the Control Board and the true history of the actions of its chairman and certain of its members and of himself as Government representative on the London agency, and into the real causes of what he alleges are the disastrous results of the board’s policy, we assure you that Mr. Paterson will be delighted to join with you in endeavouring to have such an investigation brought about. “In view of the fact that your attacks on Mr. Paterson have been of the most public character, we are instructed to hand copies of this letter to the newspaper Press, and we are accordingly adopting that course.” Interviewed to-night on the matter, the chairman of the Dairy Control Board (Mr. W. Grounds) made the following comment: "There has been no misrepresentation and no misstatement of fact, and if a commission of inquiry could remove the harm that has been done I would gladly welcome it, but the damage can never be repaired. I shall be prepared for the fullest investigation at any time.”