RETIREMENT IN N.Z.

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31678, 14 May 1968, Page 28

RETIREMENT IN N.Z.

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, May 13. Seeking a quiet retirement, Sir Thomas Macdonald, the New Zealand High Commissioner in London for the last seven years, arrived in Wellington today aboard the Ruahine.

Sir Thomas Macdonald was questioned at a news conference on board the ship.

Should New Zealand be taking a tougher line with Britain on trading matters? “It is all very well taking a tougher line, but what is there to take a tougher line about?” he replied. “What can we threaten Britain with? It is not easy.” Were there any gaps in New Zealand’s trade promotion programme? Sir Thomas Macdonald: “Improvements can always be made in trade promotion. You reach the point where you think you have gone as far as you can, then you find the reverse. Our people over there are fully conscious of the situation.” His sole concessions to controversy was on the question of replacements of N.A.C.’s Viscount fleet. “A Little Tardy”

Sir Thomas Macdonald, a former Minister of Civil Aviation, said New Zealand bad been “a little tardy” in giving Britain an explanation for its decision to buy the Boeing 737 in preference to the BAC 1-11.

“If the explanation had been given earlier, the British would have accepted it better.” He said it should not be forgotten that the British were also buying Boeings themselves. On the Common Market issue Sir Thomas Macdonald said there had been a great deal of argument for and against Britain entering the E.E.C., and there was a great deal of misunderstanding about the effects. “If the conditions of the Treaty of Rome were adhered to rigidly, the outlook for New Zealand wouldn’t look too bright,” he said. “But on the other hand, we have been given assurances that New Zealand’s special case will be recognised.”

However, he did not think Britain's entry would be achieved for a few years. Questioned about the future of the Commonwealth, Sir Thomas Macdonald said it was so looselygrouped it was bound to flue-

tuate and not develop smoothly, especially as its younger member nations, who were as yet politically immature, tended to view things differently. “But I hope as maturity comes to the younger nations over the years, the Commonwealth will grow in strength,” he said.