INSULATED TONNAGE

Dominion, Volume 8, Issue 2387, 17 February 1915, Page 7

INSULATED TONNAGE

MR: HILL DETAILS HIS POSITION (By Telegraph.—Prcis Araociatiaa.) Dunedin, February 16. Speaking to a reporter this evening regarding the question of insulated tonnage, Mr. H. Hill, general manager of tho Bristol and Dominion's Producers' Association, said he had not received a reply from the Prime Minister regarding the offer of his association to pay £0000 towards the cost of bringing an 6 d'litional steamer to New Zealand. Mr. Hill said the letter sent by tho Patea Freezing Company to him had been published, and he considered that the parties concerned should have also given to tho Press tho. letter Mr. Hill sent to tho Patea Co., which brought forth the reply published. Mr.' Hill's letter is dated January 11. After expressing the opinion that in fairness to Mr. Hill, the manager of tho Patea Company should give the Press tho information that every statement ma.dc_ by hira (Mr, Hill) had been made oh information given by the manager of the conijany, Mr. Hill said he wished 4 to state that tho position for some time had assumed a most sorious aspect, and whon clients all over the country had stated that they wanted space arranged for certain quantities of- stock, the association had endeavoured to make arrangements on their behalf. To a certain. extent the association was successful. _ Then nearly all the works, including Patea, were unablo to take further quantities, and also unable, to a very largo extent, to_ arrange sufficient shipping accommodation. The Prime Minister was continually making statements that sufficient , accommodation was available, and tho association's' representatives were saying to Mr. Hill, •'How is it you say you cannot arrange to take our clients' stock on account of shortage of shipping space, while the Prime Minister makes a definite statement that sufficient space is availably at least to the end of January." Mr. Hill added: "Tho position became so acute that on January I I telegraphed the position privately to the Prime Minister, and on January 4, received a reply from Palmerston North stating that he would go into the wholv matter on arrival in Wellington that afternoon. Naturally I thought he would have given me an. opportunity of . laying before him the _ information I had and then U6ing his judgment as to whether it was or was not as I stated. You can judge my surprise when nest morning a statement was published which, to say the least, was misleading. -Only two courses were open to mo:—(1) To keep quiet and have my previous statement disproved, or (2) make a statement to the Press to justify my previous statement to our clients. The latter course I decided to adopt, but the curse of the whole business is that 'party politics have been: introduced. In my opinion party politics are becoming a blight on our national life, and no question can be considered from a national standpoint but what party politics or political motives are assigned to anyone taking a prominent part. I have simply done my duty as manager of the Producers Association, for. I take the view that the farmers in New Zealand are producers first, ' and . political partisans afterwards, and my' experience of the farmer in this is that he is more anxious to avoid a loss than to study poli- j tical parties. The attitude I have taken all along is that wo should face this position as Britons, realising that Ts |\s' after all only . a- very small difficulty compared with what tho_ other portions of the Empire are Buffering as a result of the war. No Government could be held responsible for the shortage caused by the Admiralty taking s flips for transports, neither could tho shipping companies, but my °P m ". ton has been all along, and is stulj that tho' farmers should .be told;.the exact position, and let them face it. We have no Tight to 'live in a, fool's paradise, t trust you will realise that even it every action of mine has not met with your favour the motives prompting it have heen in the interests ot those whom I represent." . , ~ , . , Mr. Hill further stated that a reply to the , above letter was received on January 15 and' it was rather astonishing that it was not considered necessary to publish it until one month, afterwards. . . ... In answer to a question Mr. Hill stated that unless some controversial point was Taised or new matter introduced he had no intention of prolonging the controversy, for ■he recognised that no further \good_ could be accoa plished by recrimination. _ It was' now a question of everyone doing what was possible to minimise the loss that, the country was faced with and to this end he was desirous of joining with others in doing what was best for tho country. Asked.as to the likely effect the shortage of tonnage would have on tho rabbit industry, Sir. Hill stated that ho understood ■ that various freezing works in the districts' concerned were not taking rabbits to freeze, they being desirous to retain the storage space for meat., This action, Sir. Hill found, was causing consternation amongst rabbit exporters, who woro looking forward to a very big season. The only way he (Mr. Hill) could see out of the difficulty was for tho adoption of proper methods of canning. If this was done it would be a means of relieving what would' otherwise bo a block, besides giving a large quantity of additional food •to the . consumers of the United Kingdom, for it was necessary to remember that tinned goods could be carried in non-refrigerated space. Mr! Hill mentioned that very little poisoning of rabbits had been done tins season owing to the fact that those interested had decided to cater for the abnormal demands for_ foodstuffs that were .required and anticipated in the United Kingdom and in France, as the result of. the war. If, then, the shipping difficulty was prolonged, and canning was. not proceeded with, it would mean a wholesale 'poisoning of habbits, which would constitute a loss for all concerned (especially when it was realised that rabbit skins were at tho present time practically worthless), besides being a loss of food which was so urgently needed by the Allies.