U.K. Trade Official Visiting Christchurch

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30395, 20 March 1964, Page 12

U.K. Trade Official Visiting Christchurch

The £2om increase in farm subsidies just announced in Britain represented only a small amount a person, but beyond that it was not possible to give a statement “off the cuff” on what the effect might be on Britain’s trade with New Zealand, Mr P. W. Ridley, assistant secretary to the British Board of Trade, said in Christchurch yesterday. Mr Ridley was interviewed after giving an informal address to a Canterbury Manufacturers’ Association group.

In his address, Mr Ridley said it was sometimes said that old Imperial ties were becoming loosened with the passage of time, but he did not believe this was so.

“The identity of outlook between you New Zealanders and us in Britain has been borne on me greatly during my present visit,” he said. “Our trade links have always been particularly close. Although your imports from us represent about

3 to 3i per cent of our total exports, you take more from us per head of your population than any other major market.”

Mr Ridley, who has held his present position for about a year, is in New Zealand to “get some feel of the country,” he told the reporter. He arrived in the

Dominion on Sunday, and will spend in all 10 days in various centres. The first three days were spent in Wellington, where he met Ministers of the Crown, Government officials, and businessmen.

Yesterday afternoon he met members of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce and in the evening addressed a gathering of Christchurch businessmen. This morning he will meet members of the North Canterbury district of Federated Farmers.