I.—lob.

6

[w. VAN ASCH.

Dominion Conference that the; Government take' ne> steps from preventing any people from purchasine e>ur products." Mr. Leadley, president of the New Zealand Farmers' Union, has stated that there' was no opposition to the motion moved by Mr. Lysnar, and it .seems to me that it should be shown that two votes should have been cast in opposition to that motion. I have come here, sir, to show that the Hawke's Bay farmers sent two delegates to that conference. The Chairman : You have come here for the purpose of repudiating the action of the delegate's to the Dominion Conference. Mr. Van Asch : Yes. I claim, sir, to have the; confidence: of the, Hawke's Bay farmers, be:cause they appe>intod me as their representative on the We>ol and Meat Conference five years ago, and, as I have already intimated, lam a member of the executive of the Hawke-'s Bay Farmers' Uniem. I may also say, sir, that I am one, of the largest fatteners of lambs in Hawke's Bay, anei I fatten between tour thousand and five thousand every year. When it is stated that the neirthern farmers and the Hawke's Bay farmers were; in favour of the: motion moved by Mr. Lysnar I wish to say particularly that the: Farmers' Union of Hawke's Bay are not in favour of it, and they proved that by their voting. Tfie Chairman : Not at the, e;onference. Mr. Van Asch: Ne>; they voted in cemtravolition of the vote taken at the meeting with respect to the resolution. They were' against the resolution at the meeting, the two of them. It was carried against them, yet they persisted, apparently, in veiting contrary to the: resolution. That is what I wanted to say. I have: here, sir, a, letter from Mr. W. Nelson, of Tomoana, in reply te> a question 1 asked him as to what he. tlmught of the; American Meat Trust, which I sbemld like: to read out to the Committee. Before de>ing so I woulel like: to say that Mr. Nelson is about eighty years of age. I know that he wemld have liked to be here: to give, evidence in support of the petition of Messrs. Armour and Co. Mr. Nelson informed me; that he, had dealings with Messrs. Armour and Co. for about twenty years, and. he themght it was only right that Messrs. Armour and Co. should be encouraged to come, to New Zealand. Of course, he said it was against his own interests, but he thought in fairness to Me;ssrs. Armemr and Co. and in the: interests of producers of this e:ountry they should be: encouraged. Mr. Nedson's letter reads as follows : — " Dear Van Asch, — " Tomoana, 25th August, 1920. " Replying to your question, ' What do I think of the, American Moat Trust ? ' 1 have to say I have before me a pamphle:t entitled ' The Truth about the' American Meat Trust.' I have read it carefully and endorse' every word of it. I have not the, pleasure: of knowing the author (Mr. Carney), but his method of writing in the matter produced indicates to me that he is a man after my own heart—he says what he means and means what he says—and it is up to any one (however big or small) who discredits him to have it out with him face to face, and either prove his unfitness to trade in New Zealand or, failing this proof, to admit his right to traele. Having already said I endorse every word in Mr. Carney's pamphlet, there seems nothing more for me to say ; but I expect you will want something original, so will inflict a few more words on you. About three years ago (before the excitement em ' A.M.T.' was as high as it is to-day) a, document headed ' Report of Me-at Export Trade Committee: ' was sent me by a high official in the; Agricultural Department with a reepuest that I wemlel give my opinion of it. I commenced my reply as follows : ' I give: it as my opinion that tho American Meat Trust bogey is a product of a disordered brain.' Now, mind you, this was three years ago, and what I thought then I know now, the only change in the: situation being the vastly increased numbers of ' defective brains.' Dining the past two years I have had dozens of people in this roeim asking what I had to say about tho, ' A.M.T.,' and in no single instance did I elicit any argument whatever to prove; what they seemed to think was in what they e:alle:d their mind. 1 will give a, few answers to my numerous questions :--'(1.) We are afraid they will got our freezing-works. (2.) It will end in their getting them all. (3.) They will, get all tho ships. (4.) They will eventually run the world's meat trade.' My answers : —' (I.) I suppose they will not buy your works if you decline to sell them. (2.) Suppose the:y do get them all, if they elo not behave themselves yem can build more freezing-works. (3.) Then you can get more, aliips. I have done it once, so can you. (4.) Why on earth should they want to run the world's moat trade; '( This is putting the, American down as a fool. Well, ho is not a, fool.' The last half-dozen words really cover the whole, ground. When any visitor leaves my room 1 do not think I flatter myself unduly when I say they leave it ' wiser and sadder men.' I speak advisedly when I say ' sadder-,' because they are sad at having to part with a grievance. The: farmer loves a grievance dearly. Neiw to come to tho point. lam perfectly certain that if any act of the Government should prevent freedom of actiem either to Americans or any other body so long as they behave themselves decently it will be the biggest blow te> ' producers ' that they have ever had dealt them. If they de> not ' behave themselves ' kick them out, but for Heaven's sake, do not begin kicking till there is semie' ground for doing set. Yem will be: aske:d, ' Who is this fellow Nelson who speaks so positively ? ' Well, he is the: fellow who for thirty-seven years has devoted every day from daylight to da rk in furthering the interest of the frozen-meat trade (and incidentally his own), and, given ordinary intelligence', such a, lifelong apprenticeship should give him a right to attempt to educate a less-well-informed section of the country. Unfortunately no ' meat man 'is supposed te> be ende>wed with intelligence. In fact, I am sometimes forced to think that the Lord has been so lavish in his supply of ' intelligence ' to the farmer that the supply ran out, leaving none for the ordinary man. One veiry curious situation comes to light as the result of the present hubbub re ' A.M.T.' For thirty years there has been a periodical outbreak of ' middleman ' fever among the farming cemimunity. Now, one: anti-A.M.T. said a few days back, ' What do Armours want to come here for—why oannot they get their meat as they always have done; ?' This means, through the middleman. Thus the farmer seeks to create what he has trie:el for thirty years to abolish. Do not forget, Mr. Sheep-farmer, its tho sheep that has to pay the middleman. Now, you will be asked, What does Nelson expect to make out of all this stuff he' is writing '*. I will answer the question before it is asked. 1 have not a penny of interest in any meat concern of any kind in the' world, and I have- not a, pemny in any shipping company in the world, and all I hope; to make out e>f my little' effort is to prevent the rulers of this country committing a huge blunder which has been almost forceel upon them by a large section of the community owing to their blind acceptance of the ravings of a few interested persons . . ."