MEAT EXPORT TRADE.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 October 1919, Page 11

MEAT EXPORT TRADE.

ARMOUR AND CO. IN NEW ZEALAND. TO BE "PUT OUT OF BUSINESS." Refusal of the New Zealand Government to grant a meat export license to Armour and Company of Australasia, Ltd., after a perusal of the official sum mary of the report on the meat packing industry of the Federal Trade Commission, is cited by Mr. J. Ogden Armour, of Armour and Co., as an instance of the damage done to American industry and American investment in foreign countries by the Federal Trade Commission, in a letter addressed to Senator A. J. Gronna (states the New York Journal of Commerce). Senator Gronna is chairman of the committee to which the Kenyon and Kendrick Bills, providing for the licensing of persons engaged in the meat packing industry and other regulations, have been referred. "The license was withheld," writes Mr. Armour, "not because of any act of omission or commission of the company, but solely because the official charged with the duty of granting such license had perused the summary of report of the Federal Trade Commission. "Armour and Co. of Australasia, Ltd, called upon counsel in New Zealand for advice on the matter, and we quote the following from his opinion: "'Anomalous and extraordinary as this position is, I am not able to advise that there is any remedy in the law for this state of thing, or that, the Legislature of the Dominion is not competent, if it choose, to perpetate this piece of spoliation of private property. 1 have carefully rend the brochure called "A Summary of the' Report of the Federal Trade Commission of the United States of America."

"'This is printed by the Government Printer, and is evidently circulated broadcast in this Dominion. Even with my own very slight knowledge of the operations of your company, and its many ramifications, I am able 'to detect the various inaccuracies in the findings of the Commission. I do not know, of course, what weight is attached to the Commission's report in the United States, but I can very well understand that a document of this character from a Commission called into existence by the august President of that country should produce considerable stir in a distant colony where the public are not able to judge of the facts passed upon by the Commissioner, and where there has been no opportunity for stating the case for the companies attacked'

"I wish to point out that legislation of this nature it Meft&tly wroog.

Armour and Company of Australasia, Ltd,, entered the business field of Australasia after full compliance with the laws of New Zealand. They have here conducted a legitimate business in a proper and lawful manner. The New Zealand Government has not charged either the company or its officers with any unfair or unlawful practices in their business transactions. The company has made its investment and builded up its trade after several years of labor and expense. Nevertheless, without warning, without judicial proceedings of any character, and without legitimate reason, but at the caprice of .a Government official holding a temporary appointment, the company is restrained from doing an export business, which means that when the British Government ceases to purchase our product off the hooks of the warehouses, as it has been doing because of war needs, the company will actually be put out of business. "I respectfully suggest that legislation similar to that embodied in the JKenyon and Kcndrick Bills would tend to destroy American enterprise and initiative, and would be wholly contrary to and out of harmony with American ideals and institutions. Such legislation would place in the hands of a temporary official of the Government the administration of a business of which he might have had no previous knowledge or experience and for the financial results of which he is responsible to no one; hia powers are undefined and hi 3 actions subject to personal whims and caprices- which might, be influenced by the passions and prejudices of the moment."