“AS HIGH AS EVER”

Evening Star, Issue 21709, 2 May 1934, Page 12

“AS HIGH AS EVER”

NEW ZEALAND'S REPUTATION IN LONDON TRADE REVIVAL AT HOME > (Per United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, May 2. Mr T. H. Easdown, manager ot the Auckland branch of the National Bank of New Zealand, has just returned from a visit to the head office in London, and is staying in Wellington for a day or two before resuming his duties in Auckland. He also visited the United States, Canada, France, and Australia. In an interview he said New Zealand’s reputation in London was as high as ever it* was It was fully and" sympathetically recognised that we bad "our own domestic problems to solve, and were honestly living to do so. People he had met were not disposed to adversely criticise the means adoptee] by New Zealand. Australia’s efforts were warmly commended, and the people at Home seemed very pleased‘with wha t had been done by the Commonwealth to put its house in order. There was certainly a trade revival at Home, but whether the improvement had staying power he was not prepared to say. Great Britain had to look to its export trade" for a permanency. It was not only markets that had to be discovered and developed, but the purchasing power of the people in those markets had to be taken into account. Mr Easdown spoke of Australia, saying that business there was 'in much better heart than it was when he was there in 1932. In .regard to President Roosevelt's work in America, Mr Easdown agreed that his method was costly. Financing, however, was done by raising loans taken up by the banks and similar institutions. By 1935, he said, the United States public debt would not' amount to the sum of the British public debt, and it was all internal and carried by 130 million people compared with forty million in Great Britain. President Roosevelt was satisfying those who were clamouring for something to be done, and time would show if his actions were to be effectual. Mr Easdown’s visit to Paris .synchronised with the riots, which he said were much more serious than the French Press allowed because of the tourist traffic. He went to the Riviera, whose deserted resorts showed how the rich were rich no longer.