ASKED TO WITHDRAW

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 180, 31 July 1936, Page 7

ASKED TO WITHDRAW

FRUIT CONFERENCE DELEGATE - BREEZE” WITH CHAIRMAN [Per Press Association] WELLINGTON, July 30. Persistent refusal to withdraw a statement, which was characterised as 1 being equivalent to calling the chair- - man a liar, resulted in Mr. J. L. t Brown (Nelson) being asked to leave - the Dominion Conference of fruit ex- - porters to-day. s The “breeze” occurred when Mr. - Brown'referred to a confidential report furnished by the Executive Com- : mission of Agriculture to the Minister r of Agriculture, which he stated con--1 tained certain references. > The chairman, Mr. H. E. Stephens, - denied Mr. Brown’s statement, but the 1 Nelson delegate refused to accept - that. There was an inference in the i annual report of the New Zealand 1 Fruit Export Control Board before the / conference that the Executive Comi mission of Agriculture, which con- - ducted an inquiry in Nelson, absolved ; the Control Board, asserted Mr. ; Brown. He said that was largely true, t but the point asked for by the petii tioners was practically granted. They knew the Commission had actually in3 sisted, in a confidential report to the r Minister of Agriculture, on the quese tion of addition in the number of e brokers and the appointment of a cers tain firm in Birmingham. j The Chairman: Have you seen the j report ? Mr. Brown: No, but it’s true. The Chairman: It is not true. Mr. Brown: I won’t accept that. Contending that Mr. Brown’s atti- ’ tude was equivalent to calling the chairman a liar, Mr. L. B. Robinson t moved that Mr. Brown be asked to i withdraw the remark. When put to the meeting the motion . -vas carried. - Mr. Brown, however, refused to 1 withdraw and, on the chairman’s re- - quest, left the qpnference.