INTERESTED IN EMPIRE TRADE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19231, 19 November 1930, Page 6

INTERESTED IN EMPIRE TRADE.

LORD BARNEY WILL BE KEPT BUSY IN N.Z.

“There are going to be big changes in Britain’s fiscal policy-, and I want, to be in touch with all things that will be concerned. I have come to New Zealand to get into touch with this end of several industries.”

Lord Barnby, one of the most interesting figures in British industry, arrived in Christchurch this morning and got to business straight away. It was when conferring with Mr Frank Clark, the local principal of the firm of Francis Willey and Co, wool merchants, of Bradford and Boston, of which Lord Barnby is a director, that he found time to grant an interview.

“I have been here such a short time that I have no views to place before you concerning the New Zealand end of trade relations,” Lord Barnby said. “I have other interests besides wool, and I will be a busy man if I am going to see all I want to in the period I will be in New Zealand. I have had many offers of hospitality-, and knowing what wonderful sporting prospects New Zealand offers I have been greatly tempted to take advantage of many of them, but after all, I have so many interests, which entail a large responsibility, that I must keep to business.” While in Wellington, Lord Barnby conferred with bankers and insurance men, as well as his colleagues in the wool trade and the electrical world. Many Interests.

As well as being the head of a big wool firm, Lord Barnby- is a director of Lloyd’s Bank with which the National Bank of New Zealand is affiliated, and a director of the Commercial Union Assurance Company. He is a member of the Central Electricity Board which controls the supply of electricity throughout England. He is a pastpresident of the Federation of British Industries, and chairman of the Central Employers' Organisation for Wool and Textiles, and is chairman of the Wool Industries Research Association, to which New Zealand and all the other Dominions contribute. He is one of the four British representatives to the Advisory Committee of the Economic Council of the League of Nations at Geneva.

It can be seen that his claim to be a busy man is well justified. Tall, alert, and keen, Lord Barnby would earn in the United States the appellation of “a live wire.” lie gives the impression that he will seize on all the information there is to be gleaned in this country, and put it to its most useful purpose. A Crowded Programme.

“I have heard so many good accounts of New Zealand, and have formed such a high opinion of New Zealanders whom I have met, that I am very- glad to have the opportunity of visiting the Dominion for myself,” he said. “Of course, I first met the men from this country in war time, and they impressed me then. I have since known all your High Commissioners, and have m'£t your Prime Ministers, Mr Massey, Sir Joseph Ward, and Mr Coates, though I left before Mr Forbes arrived, and missed meeting him. I have heard wonderful things of the country’s hospitality, and have found for myself that they- were not exaggerations. I only wish my programme permitted me to take full advantage of it.”

Lord Barnby- is intensely interested in the big hydro-electrical works of the country, and on his tour of the South Island will inspect the new plant at Waitaki, and in the North Island will visit the Arapuni works. “That’s my story so far,” he said. “I’ll have something to tell you when I pass through later on.”