DAIRY CO. SHARES

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 2 October 1924, Page 5

DAIRY CO. SHARES

normanby CASE ECHO. , ' ■ . AMENDING LEGISLATION. . iav iKi.tuaaj h puksa aw jcia i ton. • . WELLINGTON,. Oct. 1. lii the House to-night the Minister for Agriculture (Hon. W. Nosworthy) moved the second reading of the Dairy Industry Amendment Bill, which, he said, had been prepared as the result of a recent judgment pronoun'ced by the Supreme Court in the case of MacDonald v. the Noramnby Co-operative Dairy Company, Ltd., to the effect that a co-operative dairy company had ho authority, apart from an express contract with individual shareholders, to require its members, by virtue- of' the provisions in the articles of association, to accept additional shares ih' the Company. - .... . By reason of this decision doubts had arisen as to the validity of certain past allotments of shares, added the Minister, and one of the objects of the Bill was to validate the allotment of such shares. The Bill did not, however, interfere with the particular allotment of shares which was the subject matter of the case referred to. - It did not validate allotments which were: objected to in writing by shareholders if, on lodging their objection, they ceased to supply milk to the Company . The Bill took cognisance of another case, that of Shalfoon v. the Cheddar Valley Co-operative Dairy Company, in which it was decided that a co-opera-tive dairy company could not by means of its articles of association require its shareholders to supply milk, cream, or other' dairy produce to the company, but that the supply of such produce must be the subject matter of special agreements. The Bill provides that ex_ isting articles of association should be deemed to be valid and effective, notwithstanding the judicial determination, and, further, that co-operative dairy companies may hereafter effectively provide by their articles for the supply of milk and other products by shareholders. The Leader of the Opposition (Mv. T. M. Wilford) said the Bill was evidently another measure in the interests of. the hanks. ' He had been bombarded with telegrams from one end of the Dominion to the other asking him to hold up this Bill. He did not propose to oppose the second reading, out lie would have something to say on that point later on. For the present he would only , say that all interests should combine to “see that New Zealand dairy produce was marketed in the best possible condition. A very high standard had been maintained in the past, but he regretted that there were cases where this standard was not now maintained, and every side of the House should iqsist that this should end, whether co-operative" or proprietary companies were responsible for it. This subject was above party considerations. The points .involved in the Bill were of such importance as to warrant the Bill being held up for a week or until the dairy producers understood them and had an opportunity to instruct their members as to their wishes. Mr. O'.’ Hawkeii (Egmont) gave general support to the Bilk qnd , said there was no need to rush the measure through. • - Mr. J. R. Corrigan (Patea), said, it might appear to some members not intimate with the dairy industry that several of the clauses were hard and arbitrary, but it could lie safely-left to the dairy companies, who were not likely to impose any hardship upon their suppliers. He thought that there should be another clause compelling the banks to provide dairy companies with overdrafts at the best possible rate. He thought there should also >be a clause compelling the establishment of dairy schools, which should be subsidised by the Government to the extent of 50 per cent. . • Mr. R. Masters (Stratford) contended that the Bill maintained; .the. cooperative principle in the dairy industry, and it was infinitely better, to have the industry in the hands of those actively engaged in it rathqr than in the hands, of proprietary companies, who were in it only for what mon'ey they could make out of, it. . , The Bill was read a second time and referred to the Agricultural and Stock Committee.