LICENSING OF MEAT-EXPORT.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XVIII, Issue 1, 20 January 1919, Page 61

LICENSING OF MEAT-EXPORT.

THE SLAUGHTERING AND INSPECTION AMENDMENT ACT, 1918.

For general information is. published below the full text of the Slaughtering and Inspection Amendment Act, passed in the recent parliamentary session. The measure gives ■ the Government further power of control over our meat-export trade, and is designed in the direction 1 of countering any trust operations in connection with the trade. The Act is as follows : —

1. (1.) This Act may be cited as the Slaughtering and Inspection Amendment Act, 1918, and shall be read together with and deemed part of the Slaughtering and Inspection Act, 1908 (hereinafter referred to as the principal Act).

'(2.) This Act shall come into operation on the first day of January, nineteen hundred and nineteen.

2. In this Act the term “meat-exporter” means and includes any. person, firm, or company carrying on the business of exporting meat from New Zealand, but does not include —(a) The holder of a license issued under section twentyfive of the principal Act (relating . to meat-export slaughterhouses) in respect of the export of meat from stocks slaughtered in the slaughterhouse to which the license relates ; or (6) any person in respect of the export of meat from stock raised or fattened by him for export.

3. After the commencement of this Act it shall not be lawful for any person, firm, or company to carry on, or to continue to carry on, the business of a meatexporter unless authorized so to do by a meat-export license issued under this Act.

4> (1.) Any person, firm, or company desirous of carrying on, or of continuing to carry on, the business of a meat-exporter may apply to the Minister of Agriculture for a meat-export license.

(2.) The Minister may, in his absolute discretion, grant or refuse any such application as he thinks fit. . ' . .

(3.) Every meat-export license under this Act shall be issued for a term of one year from the date thereof, but may be revoked by the Minister at any time before the due date of the expiry thereof if the Minister is of opinion, on such evidence as he deems sufficient, that the licensee has committed a breach of the terms of his license, or is carrying on business under the license in a manner contrary to the public interest.

5. (1.) Every person, firm, or company who carries on, or continues to carry on, the.' business of a meat-exporter contrary to the provisions of this Act shall be liable to a fine not exceeding two thousand pounds, and to - an additional fine, not exceeding four hundred pounds for every day . during which such business is carried on after service of a notice, under the hand of the Minister of Agriculture, requiring such business to be discontinued. -

(2.) All meat shipped or attempted to be shipped for export from New Zealand by any person, firm, or company carrying on business as a meat-exporter contrary to the provisions of this Act shall be forfeited to His Majesty, and may be sold or otherwise disposed of in such manner as the Minister directs.

6. The Governor-General may, by Order in Council, make regulations—- («) Prescribing the forms of meat-export licenses to be issued under this.Act; (&) prescribing the terms and conditions of such licenses, including conditions as to the revocation thereof by the Minister pursuant to the provisions of this Act ; and (c) prescribing the fees to be paid for licenses issued under this Act.

7. (1.) No license under the, principal Act shall be granted,' renewed; or transferred in respect of any meat-export slaughterhouse without the consent of the Minister of Agriculture. ■ ~

(2.) Without in any manner restricting the discretionary power conferred' on the Minister by the principal Act, he may refuse his consent under this section if he is of opinion, on such grounds as in his discretion he deems sufficient, that the business of the meat-export slaughterhouse, has been carried on, or. is about to be carried on, in a manner contrary to the public interest. ■■■

REGULATIONS

The following regulations under the Act have been gazetted : —

i. A meat-export license shall be in the form in the Schedule hereto

2. Every such license shall be granted on the following terms and conditions : (a.) That the licensee will at all times during the currency of the license supply to the Minister of Agriculture all such information as the Minister shall require regarding the business in respect of which the license is in force, and .will,, if so required by the Minister, cause any information so supplied to be verified by a statutory declaration. (A) That the licensee will at all times during the currency of the license when so required by the Minister of Agriculture afford to the Minister, or to an officer of the New Zealand Government appointed by him in that behalf, reasonable facilities for examining all books, correspondence, or other documents relating to the said business. \ :

3. The fees to be paid for a meat-export license shall be as follows : (a) On the issue of the first license in respect of any business, five pounds; (6) on the issue of any subsequent license for the same business, one pound.