N.Z. DINNER

Grey River Argus, 17 April 1929, Page 5

N.Z. DINNER

SIR J. PARR Among the Big Capitalists (United Service.) (Australian a ir.zr. Cable Assn.) (Received April 16 at 8.5 p.m.) LONDON, April 16. Over three hundred guests attend'd the New Zealand Associ/ation’s annual dinner, including Lord Plymouth, Sir Basil Blackett, Sir Montague Norman, Sir Janies Ferguson, Sir Otto Niemi yer, and Sir Thomas Inskip the High Commissioners for Australia, South Africa, the Irish Free S ate, and Southern Rhodesia; and the Agents General for N w South Wales, South Australia, and Queensland. Sir James Pan’ (New Zealand High proposed the toast of “Our Guests.” He paid a tribute to Silr B. Blackett, as Chairman of the new Communications Company, which was linking up the cables and the wireless throughout the Empire. In welcoming Sir G. Ryrie (Australian. High Commissioner) he pointed out that the Commonwealth was forty timjes the size of New Zealand, and yet the latter had generally managed to borrow money in London at one* half to one per cent better than Australia did. Alluding to trade, he said {hat New Zealand had never known greater prosperity than it had to* day. The trade of its mere one and a-half millions of people had last year amounted to £101,000,000. New Zealand’s problem was to find markets for the increasing volume of its products. Personally he still believed that the British was the best market.

Sir B. Blackett, in responding, said that one of his earliest visits to Britain, was to Bradford, where he was most impressed with the need for the nationalisation of the wool I rade. He beflieved that the producers of wool in Australia and New Zealand and the wool manufacturers in Britain. could adavntageously get together and arrange to deal with the increased production of wool and its manufacture the Empire and warfid. He pointed out that during the seven years before the war, out of £454,000.000 which London lent to the Empire £188,000,000 went to Governments and municipalities; and £266,000,000 to business concerns. For the seven years up to 1928, London had lent to the Empire five hundred millions, of which £365,000,00*0 went to Governments and municipalities, but only £136,000,000 to business concerns. Herein lay an opportunity to study Empire economics, for obviously the advances to business concerns generally more quickly yielded profits than did the advances to the Governments. Sir T. Inskip in proposing th e toast of Sir Jas. Parr, recalled that he had made two fortunes as a farmer and a lawyer before hp was forty years of age, while h e was as versatile a politician as Mr Winston Churchill. Sir James Parr, in responding, suggested that Sir T. Inskip, if he were unemployed after the general election. should write his biography.