SIR THOMAS ROBINSON

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 146, 16 March 1921, Page 5

SIR THOMAS ROBINSON

AND THE MEAT PRODUCER MR. LYSNAR’S APPEAL A speech on matters affecting the meat producers of New Zealand was delivered in the House of Itapresenta fives last night by Mr. W. I>. I.ysnar (Gisborne). Mr. Lysnar made particular reference to the business connections of Sir Thomas Robinson, a member of the Meat Control Committee during the war. Sir Thomas Robinson is in New Zealand at present.

Mr. Lysnar said that the producers were to-day faced with a serious depression due to four factors, viz.: (1) tightness of money; (2) want of shipping; (3) the Imperial authorities’ accumulation of large stocks, and their mishandling of those stocks; (4) the operations of trusts and combines. He proposed to deal with a delicate matter, and* ho did not desire to say anything that he could not justify. When Sir Thomas Robinson had been first appointed to the position of Meat Controller, the speaker had challenged the appointment for the reason that Sir Thomas was very largely interested in the meat and shipping businesses. He had also acted as agent for Armour and Co.

Mr. Lysnar said that he held a certified extract from. the company's registered office in London of the annual return of the Federal Steam Navigation Co., Ltd. This document showed that Sir Thomas Robinson was among the six shareholders. The other shareholders were:—Allen Hughes, New Zealand Shipping Co., Ltd., Warrington Lang, G. T. Haycroft, and the New Zealand Shipping Co. again. The speaker had stated publicly on a former occasion—and his assertion had not been contradicted—that both the Federal Steam Navigation Co., Ltd., and the New Zealand Shipping Co. were working* with the American shipping ring. ‘ . Among the shareholders in the firm or Birt and Co/, an offshoot of the firm of Birt, Potter and Hughes, London, was the Federal Steam Navigation Co., Ltd;, referred to above. Birt and Co. and Birt, Potter and Hughes were engaged in the handling of general produce. Birt ami Co. advertised that they owned the Ocean Beach Freezing Works at Invercargill. This firm had acted as agent in Australia for Armour and Co., and all Armour and Co.’s Australian meat purchases had teen shipped Home to England in Sir Thomas Robinsons name. The member for Gisborne concluded his reference to Sir Thomas Robinson with an appeal to the Prime Minister. He said that Sir Thomas was in the Dominion now in connection, he understood. with matters arising out of the Imperial meat purchase. He hail no objection to Sir Thomas’s «>ming to New Zealand, but. he thought it Tight that the people should know what the visitor’s interests were. He hoped that the Prime Minister would not on any account allow Sir Thomas Robinson to te appointed to handle matters in dispute in connection with Imperial moat In store 'in New Zealand".