N.Z.’s good-will fund in U.K.

Press, 13 February 1986, Page 13

N.Z.’s good-will fund in U.K.

PA Wellington New Zealanders may not fully realise the depth of good will towards them that still exists in Britain, says the New Zealand High Commissioner in London, Mr Bryce Harland. Mr Harland, who took ' up his posting in October, said he was surprsed and gratified by the warmth shown towards New Zealand. “I know of no other country where so many people care so much about New Zealand as they do in Britain,” he has told the British-New Zealand Trade Council in Wellington. “I wonder sometimes whether this fact is fully understood in contemporary New Zealand.”

i Mr Harland said New ' Zealand’s profile in Britain was high. i “To some extent greatness has been thrust upon us by one of Britain’s neighbours,” he said. “To some, extent our profile is a function of the Government’s policy on the question of nuclear ships, though I think that attracts less attention in Britain than it does in the United States.” However, those were not the only reasons. “Another one is the Government’s present economic policy, for which I have not encountered anything but approval,” he said. “Our profile in Britain is also due a good deal to the eggheads. “If. anything put us on

the front pages the first couple of months I was there, it was Keri Hulme’s success in getting the Booker Prize.” Britain remained one of New Zealand’s biggest markets, said Mr Harland. “We still earn something like $1 billion a year from the United Kingdom. “It is still of critical importance to us for two commodities — lamb and butter — and in the case of butter there is absolutely no substitute.” On the other hand, Mr Harland said, it was pointed out to him that it was well known in the City that New Zealand took only 0.6 per cent of Britain’s total exports. “But Britain still earns £1 billion a year from "I New Zealand,” he said. “The merchandise trade is the lesser part of this — it accounts for about £350 million of that

billion.“ The remainder is in invisibles.” Mr Harland said new trade opportunities between New Zealand and Britian had opened up in recent years. One of the reasons was Britain's entry into the European Community, in spite of the heavily protected agricultural industry within the Community. “Agricultural products apart, the European market is one of the freest, the openest in the world,” he said. “As far as virtually anything but lamb and butter is concerned, it is pretty close to open slather for people from this end of the world.” The policies of the British Government had also created new opportunities, said Mr Harland. “It is the strategy of the British Government, as I understand it, to use imports to control inflation,” he said. “I am not sure

; New Zealand exporters have fully appreciated ' that.” Mr Harland said the i great problem for export- [ ers remained that of transport, and something i could perhaps be done about air cargo. i “It does seem to me that our horticultural products are one of our better bets now for getting i into large, high-priced, sophisticated markets, via , London, New York and ’ Tokyo, and perhaps air freight capacity is one of the real limiting factors in • that context.” ' Access to markets was • primarily a political ques--1 tion. “We would not have access to the British mari ket now if it were not for , the political good will of the British Government.” > Mr Harland arrived in [ New Zealand this week for two weeks of consulta- ’ tions and a holiday with > his family.