115

H.—3o,

Mr. Lysnar: Stick to the question of giving the consent and leave out all side-issues. Mr. Jones : The first clause stands. We are quite prepared to alter the second to " The Board cannot guarantee the freezing companies will ship their meat by her." I can aassure you of this, Mr. Witters, that any interpretation that this Board gives to this agreement is going to be in favour of the Poverty Bay Company. Mr. Witters : I can see that. It is a pity we did not meet more often. Mr. Jones: Every bit of trouble has been caused in this way: that as far as this Board is concerned the meat-works and the boat were gone. Mr. Witters : To whom had the boat gone ? Mr. Jones: To the mortgagees. Mr. Lysnar : Who said that ? Mr. Jones: That was the general impression, and that was the opinion round this Board. Mr. Lysnar : Not a line about it. Mr. Jones : I said now, Mr. Lysnar, " If you are going to come back and ask to come into the next contract, you tell the Board distinctly that you are going to get everything possible from us, and then you are going to make any reduction that you can to fill your vessel outside." Mr. Lysnar : It was understood that you were to protect her. You promised to protect her. Mr. Jones : No application whatever came to this Board in connection with her. If your company had come before Christmas your boat could have gone into the contract without the slightest difficulty. Mr. Lysnar : You knew perfectly well, Mr. Jones. I impressed that point on you time and again. 1 told you what the bank had told you that we could not have got on without making the reduction. You started trouble with the bank from that very moment. " What is the good of your boat if you cannot come here to trade ? " said the bank, and I impressed upon you . . . Mr. Jones : When was this ? Mr. Lysnar : I told you and impressed upon you . . . and it was after that that I wrote to you —I think it was some time well into 1923 that it was, because you were so persistent that we had done wrong that I impressed upon you then that we wanted that boat included, and if it was not included we would have trouble. Mr. Jones : The position was this : that we wrote to you in connection with the reductions you made and took strong exception to it. Mr. Lysnar : You said we had broken the contract. Mr. Jones : Wasn't that strong exception ? Then you came in to sec me. No bank was ever mentioned. I never knew that the bank ever took any exception to it. Mr. Lysnar: We then wrote you and explained. We heard nothing more. We got no reply to that letter- the letter explaining why we had done it. Mr. Jones : You came and saw me. There was no misunderstanding when you and I met each other, and that was when I told you that if you asked to come into another contract I wanted certain conditions. Mr. Lysnar : You made no such statement. Mr. Jones : As far as this Board is concerned, we thought the boat was out. A fortnight earlier there would have been no difficulty. That is the position, and as far as it is concerned we are prepared to give you a letter to this effect. Mr. Lysnar : That " insolvent " should go out too. The very fact that the boat comes is quite sufficient for you. There is no occasion for us to put particulars before this Board. You would not ask it of anybody else. Mr. Jones : I would of any company of which I was in doubt. Mr. Witters : . . . That would kill the goose altogether at the other end if that went in. Mr. Jones : The people at the other end know your financial position. Mr. Lysnar: They know we have a boat which has cost us £400,000. They know the works have been sold. They know the Meat Board excluded us from the contract. Mr. Witters : We don't want to argue on that point at all. Mr. Jones : As far as this Board is concerned you can cable to Britain what you wish. Mr. Witters : That, would not be any good to us at all. We want something that has your confirmation. Mr. Jones : The position is this : that you state that the Bank of Scotland knows your financial position. They know that the company is solvent or insolvent. The Board puts that in. The other statement about the guarantee of the freezing companies we must put in for the protection of this Board, lest the Bank of Scotland think they can send this vessel out to New Zealand and she will be automatically loaded. Mr. Lysnar: . . . It looks as though we don't know our business. Mr. Witters : The contract surely must make some reference to it. Mr. Jones : "It is agreed that the insulated space in the steamer ' Admiral Codrington ' be first allotted," &c. Mr. Witters : You are protected in any case, Mr. Jones, by the terms of your contract. You are not bound to find a load for any one of them, are you ? Mr. Jones : The difference, Mr. Witters, is this : The shipping companies will ultimately get all the meat, but the " Codrington " was always governed by a special clause. Supposing that I cancelled my allotment of meat in one of the shipping lines to-day —it is only cancelled, but they ultimately get it. Mr. Witters: You have different companies in this contract. You say the shipping companies will ultimately get it, but there may be one company that is favoured above the others, not by you, but by freezing companies. It is for them to say which company will carry their meat.