WELLINGTON TOPICS.

Waikato Times, Volume 100, Issue 16711, 29 January 1926, Page 6

WELLINGTON TOPICS.

MEAT EXPORT.

LICENSE REFUSED

(Special Correspondent.)

WELLINGTON, Thursday-

It was an open secret, long before the publication of the fact in the newspapers this morning, that the Meat Producers' Board had recommended the refusal of the application of the Wellington Meat Export Company for the transfer of its export license to Messrs Borthwick and Sons, and that the new Minister of Agriculture, the Hon. 0. Hawken, had accepted its advice. Information of this kind usually is available well ahead of its official publication, and for some days past the.attitude of the. Board and of the. Minister has been the subject of much discussion and criticism. With the precedent of the Gisborne case before them both the Wellington Meat Company 'and Borthwicks, as the great British firm is usually styled, appeared to have' good ground for assuming that the transfer would be effected without difficulty, and that an ■ arrangement advantageous to both the contracting parties would be facilitated by the authorities/The Minister himself has been careful to state; iff'the announcement of his decision that "it is in no way intended to reflect upon the conduct of Messrs Thos. Borthwick and Sons' operations in the meat freezing and exporting business," and in view of this admission there naturally is much speculation as to what reasons for the refusal have weighed with the Board and the Minister.

Probable Influences.

One of the suggestions offered in explanation of the refusal of the authorities to help the shareholders of the Wellington Meat Company out of their difficulties is that several other meat freezing companies in the. Wellington province, co-operative and otherwise, have protested strongly against an opportunity being given to Borthwicks to extend their operations in New Zealand with the aid of British capital and British business acumen, while the local companies have lo get along as best they can under less favourable conditions. A more plausible explanation of the authorities' desire to keep Home enterprise out of the Dominion is that, realising that there are far too many freezing companies in the country; and that a reduction in their number, however hardly it might press on individuals, would be an advantage to I 'the industry as a whole, they are ready to sacrifice the shareholders in the Wellington Meat Company for the benefit of the shareholders in other companies. iS T o doubt the Board and the Minister by-and-bye will give reasons for their decision more explicit than the assurance that it rests "on the, grounds of public policy"; but meanwhile they have provoked a good deak of dissatisfaction in various quarters and probably impaired to some extent New Zealand's reputation as a field for the investment of British capital. 'Bus and Tram. At the meeting of the Council of the Wellington Chamber of Commerce yesterday the chairman read a letter from the president'of the Christchurch Chamber in winch that gentleman urged strongly that the Associated Chambers should not commit themselves to opposition to the proposed motor 'bus regulations. s "l hope we shall not agree," lie wrote, "lo anything which will give these omnibus services (which in many cases are merely pirate services, on the established tramway service run by the ratepayers) any advantage over these publiclyowned services. I cannot see us, as commercial men, sanctioning anything which will put this publicly-owned service, in which millions of.ratepayers' money are invested, to a disadvantage, whicli ,will impose, heavy monetary loss on all the ratepayers, io order to get the advantage of 'bus services,' and in order to allow some ratepayers to- make, profits out of these services." Whatever may be the general feeling towards these 'bus services in Chri'slchurch, it has been made fairly evident in Wellington that the 'buses, at any rate so far as they serve the suburbs in opposition to the railways, have come to stay, and that neither costly trams nor still more costly railways are going to drive them out of business. They represent the triumph of the motor over the railed vehicle, arid car. be .no .more sUppressied than, were the early railways by the stage coaches.

"Absolute Control." The official report of the proceedings at the meeting of the Dairy Produce Control Board yesterday indicates that a majority of the members of the board- are determined to proceed with the institution of "Absolute Control" forthwith without waiting for any review of the position by the producers themselves. "In order to be ready for the inception of the control of dairy produce as from. August 1 next," the main paragraph in the report runs. "the New Zealand Daiy Produce Control Board at its meeting yesterday decided io establish branch offices in five dairy shipping centres outside Wellington, at Auckland, New Plymouth, Dunedin, and Inverca'rgill." •' It had been assumed by many of the opponents of "absolute control," on the strength of statements made by the Prime Minister, and by Hie new Minister of Agriculture, before his appointment, that Ibis important step would be postponed till after the constitution of the hoard had been reconsidered: but the story'going Hie rounds to-day is to the effect that the Don. 0. Hawken is not inclined to interfere with the determination of the board, and that the establishment of shipping centres will not be delayed. This step would entail the expenditure of thousands of pounds, and would go far to entrench the extremists in their policy.