TRADE TREATY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 33, 18 November 1938, Page 5

TRADE TREATY.

BRITAIN AND UNITED STATES. INTEREST IN SIGNING CEREMONY

(United Press Association—Copyright.) WASHINGTON, November 16.

Great interest has been aroused by ceremonies to-morrow for the signing of the treaties between Britain and the United States and between Canada and the United States.

The British Ambassador (Sir Ronald Lindsay), the Prime Minister of Canada (Mr W. L. Mackenzie King), and the United States Secretary of State (Mr Cordell Hull) will sign in the presence of Mr Roosevelt at White House, and it is expected that all four will exchange addresses emphasising the significance of the agreements beyond mere trade matters.

’File treaties themselves, with the accompanying explanations, are said to be “a. foot thick and many thousands of pages long,” and are being closely guarded. They will not be released to the press until 4 p.m. to-morrow, and cannot be published until 10 p.m. It is understood that the late' publication is prompted by" fear that the treaties will affect the stock market, which might react unfavourably because of the considerable opposition which is known to exist in certain business quarters.

Every effort is being made by the State Department to give the announcement of the treaties a setting of great dignity, and to make the.event an occasion for the exchange and renewal of sentiments of deep British-American friendship. The press throughout the nation interprets the event freely as a sign to the dictators of an underlying unanimity among the English-speaking democracies.