COMMERCIAL TRUST ACT.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXIV, Issue 81, 30 November 1912, Page 6

COMMERCIAL TRUST ACT.

(Per Press Association.) Wellington, November 30. his address in the antitrust case to-day, Air. Skerrott,' K.C., said the statement hud been made tjiac the merchants had made a profit of a little under £20,000 in a year; that statement was merely forensic. The whole of the sum was the gross profit, ifdm which had to be deducted the expenses incurred in earning that protig. There had also been a suggestion that tho Merchants’ Association had blen lacking in candour. When ho said that the Association held its meetings half-yearly, and had produced, minutes for March and August, 1911, it would, counsel said, ba seen thibro was no ground for this statement. ' Jn reply to further argument, Ins Honour said tho Act had seen placed to deal with a small phase of the trust problem. The Legislature had not prohibited trusts altogether, nor dealt with profits or prices, but it had said certain things were to be illegal. /Mr. Skerrett said the ‘statute should hpi given a restricted and limited meaning and read literally. A definition of “trust” would include any company cr corporation tha t carried on the business of manufacturing, selling, or trading in goods. flis Honour: “But it is not a crime tp. bo a commercial trust, so there is ndf harm in making this definition wide.” ... . ri Counsel is continuing his address.