SIR THOMAS MACKENZIE.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 19 July 1924, Page 12

SIR THOMAS MACKENZIE.

ENTERTAINED AT BRISTOL. INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL CONFERENCE. Sjr. Thomas Mackenzie recently paid a visit to Bristol, and as a Freeman of the city he was officially entertained. In replying to the toast of “Our Guest,’’ he spoke of the debt New Zealand owed to the Avonmouth Dock Association for the splendid accommodation they had provided for overseas shipping and for the care with which they handled delicate produce. There was no doubt, said Sir Thomas, that this up-to-dateness had shown other British port authorities that, if they wished to retain their trade they must follow suit, and many of them had done so. The matter of bringing these ports up to date was closely associated with the cost of production, and this country had to set its house in order, otherwise other countries would cut- it out. Lord Kylsant (chairman of the London Chamber of Commerce) had said at the last meeting of the chamber that the index figures showed that it cost 50 per cent, over pre-war prices for our rivals to produce goods, qnd it cost, the British people 90 per cent, over pre-Avar costs.

Sir Thomas Mackenzie has had the privilege of discussing privately some important trade questions with public men at the House of Commons, and at different dinners he has taken the opportunity of saying something in favour of improved inter-Empire trade. - Sir Thomas has been invited bv the Commercial Chamber of the House of Commons to attend the International Conference of Parliamentary Commercial Committees at Brussels'as the representative of a Parliament of the Dominions. The English party will leave London on Saturday, June 21, and the conference will conclude on the following Friday. The conference, which this year is holding its tenth annual full sitting, is invariably of an interesting and important character, and is attended by representatives from many of the principal Parliaments of the world.

On the invitation of the Port of London Authority, Sir Thomas Mackenzie went down the Thames recently to inspect the docks *and witness the discharging of various vessels in port.