WELLINGTON NEWS

Hokitika Guardian, 16 February 1928, Page 4

WELLINGTON NEWS

MEAT BOARD'S POLICY. (Special to “ Guardian ”.y WELLINGTON, Eel,. 15. There is to be found one man ready to endorse the policy of the .Meat Board towards freezing works, hut that man, i Mr Adam Hamilton, M.P., happened | to he a member of the Board and ; therefore his endorsement of its policy j is not worth anything. Mr Hamilton [ was addressing the members of the ! Otago Provincial Executive of the New j Zealand Farmers’ Enion. and his ad- | dress was in reply to Mr .J. Begg, ! Chairman of the Farmers’ Freezing j Coy., who had previously severely ! criticised the Board. The Otago Pro- | vincial Executive took the matter up. ' and requested that the Dominion Exej cutive he asked to do something in the j matter to relieve the financial situa- ? tion, the position being that the hanks j refused to recognise the works as se- ! eurity for advances. Mr Begg’s eon- ! tention was that the attitude of the I Meat Board in vetoing the transfer of * certain freezing works, notably the | Wellington -Meat Export Coy. and the 1 Wanigawa Works, and having the S right to veto the transfers to approved I institutions had had the effect ol inak- | ing the works useless as security as far J as the lending institutions were eon- | eerned. Mr llamilton said he hid I oreat faith in the Meat Board, which is j so much balderdash, for any schoolboy ! can say the same thing. He said that | in the early years of the Board, drastic powers had to he introduced to cope with the various situations. Here is a statement that is vague in every way. for what were the drastic powers re- * quirod hv the Board. Anything that the Board has done could have been done bv a small committee of the Department of Agriculture. In any case, it seems likely that as a means of saving money, it lor no other reason, such a committee must sooner or later be appointed. It seems absurd that so much money should be taken Irom the pockets of the meat producers by way of levy to maintain the Board and its servants at high wages. Mr Hamilton says that the election of the Meat Board in spite of adverse criticism was the best that could be devised. We cannot see how this is justified. Surely the farmers can choose better men to represent them. At any rate it seems to us that there are far too many representing the one island. The old story of insurance rates being reduced is trotted out to show the remarkable work done by the Board. Insurance just after the war was high, not only f t ,r meat but lor almost everything else and the rates had to come down as things got hack to normal. The Department of Agriculture could have done that if it were clothed with power to negotiate. Mr Hamilton asks: “Did the Board’s policy hamper the assets of the companies : J ” He was wise enough to say that the Board might he taking up a wrong stand in this, and we believe it is, for that is the crux of the whole complaint. He stretches his * imagination and in tact thinks that his hearers are a parcel of fools when lie states that the refusal of the Board to sanction the sale to Borthwiek s ol the Wellington Meat Export Cov. did not destroy hut protected the assets of the company. Ibis is tar-letched reasoning and will not he swallowed by those who can think for themselves. A company is allowed to transfer its assets with the consent of the Board, that is just the point. No company can transfer its assets without the consent of the Board, and that we maintain is ultra vires. No justification can be found for this high-handed action on the part of the Board, and the Board will not forego that action, lor its strength as an organised body is embodied in that. the I\<>. SAYINGS BANK. The I’.O. Savings Bank exists to inculcate thrift among the people, but for years past thrift has been conspicuous by its absence. We have the figures for the last quarter of last year, and these show that the deposits amounted to C7.152.U02 and the withdrawals : totalled £7,909.573. the excess of withdrawals over deposits being tiol,-Hl. The deposits in the corresponding quarter of 1926 amounted to £7.195,824, and here it will he seen that the deposits of 1926 were larger than in 1927. showing that tin effort was made te save a little money. The withdrawals in 1926 totalled £7.C00.95(5 or less than was withdrawn in 1927. Although there was an excess of withdrawals in 192(5 it was ndt as large as the excess shown in the December quarter of 1927 by £52,100. The greatest trouble has been found in the principal cities, as a matter of fact only the New Plymouth district shows an excess -of deposits of £IO,B-18, while all the others except Western Samoa show excess ol withdrawals. Wellington deposited £1,403,219 and withdrew .£1,551,27(5. Ibis was the largest both as regards deposits and withdrawals. Auckland came next with deposits £1,287,770, an 1 withdrawals of £1,371,105, and Christchurch was third with £1,102,828 in deposits and £1,226,-145 in withdrawals. Then there was a tremendous fall, deposits in Dunedin amounting to £51,975 and withdrawals £684,825. These big cities are responsible for the heaviest withdrawals and there >s no doubt that that is where the hulk of tinemployed workers are concentrated. What is going to happen this a nicer with respect to unemployment it is difficult to say, hut that unemployment will he tense is a certainty.