.jpg)
Salient. Official Newspaper of Victoria University of Wellington Students Association. Vol 40 No. 14. June 13 1977
Picket Borthwicks! June 16, 12-1 — Oppose the takeover of Gear Meat!
page break.gif)
Picket Borthwicks! June 16, 12-1
Oppose the takeover of Gear Meat!
The takeover of Gear meat by the giant British monopoly Thos. Borthwick and Sons is in no way going to be of benefit to New Zealanders. A successful takeover would only accelerate the trend to growing foreign domination of our economy, Foreign domination of New Zealand's economic life has helped to lead us into numerous small and large depressions as well as a number of wars (the latest being the Vietnam war).
This particular move by Borthwicks will have a number of retrograde effects:
| 1. | Borthwicks want to 'rationalise' their operations. If they took over Gear a number of chains would close immediately — the whole plant could well be shut up. |
| 2. | Borthwicks would use this purchase to establish a monopoly of freezing works in the lower North Island to the detriment of farmers and consumers. |
| 3. | This move is also being made by Borthwicks in order to forestall moves by producer co-operatives to set up their own freezing works in order to get a better deal — they would find it harder to get licenses for new works if Borthwicks captured Gear. |
| 4. | Borthwicks is 100% British owned. Gear is 100% New Zealand owned and gives a better deal to producers than Borthwicks works. |
Organised by the Students Against Imperialism.