Warring Bodies Reach Understanding

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 619, 22 March 1929, Page 1

Warring Bodies Reach Understanding

EXHIBITION CONTROL MANUFACTURERS AND A. AND P. A tentative agreement on the question of the Winter Exhibition control was reached yesterday afternoon after representatives of the Manufacturers’ Association and the Auckland Agricultural and Pastoral Association had conferred for about two hours. Certain concessions were made by both sides and a common basis was found. The A. and P. representatives were not authorised to finalise their decisions, but it is expected that this will be done at a meeting - of the association this afternoon. The dispute over the control of the Winter Exhibition came to a head on Wednesday when the manufacturers withdrew from a meeting of the joint exhibition committee after conditions of control had been placed before them with the comment that they were “absolutely final.” When rival deputations came before the Harbour Board, which has granted the exhibition committee the use of the sheds, the chairman, Mr. H. R. Mackenzie, suggested a conference. This took place yesterday, Mr. Mackenzie presiding. The Manufacturers’ Association was represented by Messrs. G. Finn (president), J. A. C. Allum, F. M. Hills and C. A. Whitney. The A. and P. representatives were Messrs. J. T. F. Mitchell (president-elect), G. R. Hutchinson, R. Wright and W. F. O’Donnell. The conference was held in camera. “On Monday, at a meeting of the Manufacturers’ Association, I shall make a statement traversing the whole position,” Mr. Finn told a Sun man this morning. “In the meantime the position is fairly satisfactory. We had to infer that the A. and P. representatives were doing what they considered was right in the interests of their association, and in the end we gave way on one or two points with the object of coming to an amicable settlement that would not altogether wreck the interests of the A. and I*. Association. “We have been ready to mee* them always and consider any requests, but what annoyed us was their methods of putting forward their demands.

“Their grievance was that the manufacturers appeared to dominate the show. That is not so. We were simply taking a more active interest in it than they appeared to be doing. However to bring things back to their former position they wanted their president to be president of the exhibition this year. I was to have been president but I gave way on that point. “We agreed further that Mr. J. Findlay and Mr. W. F. O’Donnell should act as joint managers, and that the profits should be shared on a fiftyfifty basis. We have undertaken to contribute £IOO to the A. and P. Association to defray its office expenses “For the present it is, for us, not so much a question of being satisfied with the arrangement, but of doing the best thing in the interests of the city and the district. To my mind the discussion has done a lot of good as it has brought out weak points and shown where differences lie.” When asked by The Sun to comment on the result of the conference Mr. O’Donnell, of the A. and P. Association, declined to make any statement.