EDINBURGH SENDS GREETINGS

Press, Volume LXXII, Issue 21976, 28 December 1936, Page 7

EDINBURGH SENDS GREETINGS

1 “OLD DUNEDIN TO THE NEW” LAUNCHING OF PORT TAURANGA [ AT LEITH (FROM OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LONDON, December 2. “Our Castle Rock —the old Dunedin —sends greetings to the new,” said the Lord Provost of Edinburgh at a luncheon held after the launching of the Port Tauranga at Leith. Mrs W. J. Jordan, wife of the New Zealand High Commissioner, performed the ceremony, and an Empire broadcast was made. The Lord Provost said that the launch was but the forging of another link in that long chain of circumstances which bound the people of New Zealand to the Mother Country. It was no mere accident that they, in Edinburgh, should be speaking to their friends in the Dominion. There were many ties that bound them, not the least, a common origin and * common heritage. We of the Empire, he continued, formed a community of interest based on the fervent conviction that our Empire had a real contribution to make to world problems and to world progress. Between no parts of the Empire was the sense of kinship more real than between Scotland and New Zealand. Was the Dominion not proud that many of her people were Scottish either by birth or by origin? “We like to think, too.” said the Lord Provost, “that the sister cities together occupy positions of eminence. Our Castle Rock —the old Dunedin—sends greetings to the new.” Reciprocity of interest could not, however, endure solely on things of the spirit, solely on common kinship. Friendship was a poor thing if friends could not do business with each other, and he was glad to find that things 1 material did occupy a place in their i relationships with the Dominion. True j friendship could always survive the ! chaffering of the market place, and it was right that the friendships they formed should be put to the test When he did that in the case of the Dominion. he was more than satisfied. He found that roughly 50 per cent, of the New Zealand import trade, and about 75 per cent, of the export trade was with the United Kingdom. Mr Jordan said that New Zealand was proud to be a pant of the British Commonwealth of Nations and to enjoy the same form of democratic gov- : eminent. They were striving to establish a satisfactory standard of living 'for all their people, and so safeguard all those who had invested in their 5 land, and they looked to Britain to j assist them by extending their mar- ! kets here. They hoped shortly to be ! in a position to invite men and women i from Scotland to join their kith and I kin who were already in New Zcai land. . t The Rich Commissioner concluded ; by paying a tribute to the efficiency ' and equipment of Messrs Robbs yard. ; and complimented the designers and ; the workmen upon the results of their 1 labours. They were satisticd that the 1 brand. “British Made." was the hal’j mark of quality, no matter what class of goods the brand was on.