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1945 NEW ZEALAND

WAR ASSETS REALIZATION BOARD (REPORT OF) FOR PERIOD ENDED 31st MAY, 1945

Presented to loth Houses of the General Assembly by Command of His Excellency.

War Assets Realization Board, Wellington, 3rd July, 1945. The Hon. the Minister of Finance. Sir, — I have the honour to submit the following report for the period ended 31st May, 1945. POWERS AND FUNCTIONS OF THE BOARD, COMPOSITION, POLICY, AND ORGANIZATION 1. Powers and Functions of Board.- —The War Assets Realization Board was set up by the direction of the War and domestic Cabinets, dated 18th May, 1944, to undertake the orderly disposal of all buildings, materials, equipment, and stores, whether situated in the Dominion or elsewhere, which are declared by the Services and Government Departments to be surplus to their requirements. 2. Composition of Board.—The Board consists of the following : — (а) The Hon. Minister of Finance (Chairman). (б) Officers for the time being holding the following appointments The Secretary to the Treasury. The Quartermaster-General. The Air Member for Supply. The Commissioner of Works. The Commissioner of Supply. The Chairman of the Stores Control Board Advisory Committee. The Under-Secretary, Public Works Department. (c) An executive member. (d) Such other members as the Minister of Finance may desire to appoint. The additional members appointed to the Board as per (d) above are Messrs. D. A. Ewen ; E. P. Meachen, M.P. ; F. P. Walsh ; J. G. Young (Deputy Chairman). Brigadier H. E. Avery was appointed General Manager (Executive member), and took up fulltime duties with the Board as from Ist October, 1944. The first meeting of the Board was held on 7th June, 1944, since which date meetings have been held at regular intervals, a total of twenty-four meetings for the period covered by this report. 3. General Policy.—The general policy of the Board has been laid down as follows : — (i) To realize all assets to best advantage and by whatever methods the Board may determine from time to time as being in the best interests of the Dominion : (ii) To transfer by sale or otherwise all surplus stores under its control, in the first instance to meet the requirements of Government Departments and the domestic requirements of New Zealand generally : (iii) To make all surplus stores not required by the Government available for sale in lots of such size as to permit small business firms as well as large ones to participate in their purchase : (iv) To investigate overseas markets with a view to sale of all stores which cannot be sold in the Dominion: (v) To avoid the dumping on the market of surplus stores at bargain prices simply to get rid of them, without regard to the effect on normal trade, and also to avoid the other extreme of freezing or destruction of large stocks : (vi) Subject to the provisions of clause (v), to dispose of the maximum quantity of stores, particularly of those items which are in short production, at the earliest possible date : (vii) To determine selling prices of all assets under control of the Board, and to ensure that no special concessions in prices be made except by direction of the Government.