Nz Mission's Impact Even

Greater Than Expected

From a Staff Writer in Apia The 25-man New Zealand trade mission to the Pacific Islands was making an even greater impact than they had hoped by the time they had completed half their programme in late July.

I* EMBERS were unanimous when the mission reached Apia on ly 19 that the best way to sell in ; Pacific was “to get out there and ow your face”.

Nobody in any of the places they d previously visited Nadi and va (Fiji), Nukualofa and Vavau onga), Niue, and Pago Pago unerican Samoa) had been un bare of the mission’s arrival, thanks an effective, intelligently executed vance publicity campaign with sters and local gimmicks.

In Suva, crowds of people visited i mission’s display of merchandise a large marquee in the grounds the Boys’ Grammar School from ly 9 to 13. After only three days, ambers of the mission reported that ;y had taken more than £lO,OOO irth of firm orders.

Before leaving Fiji, the mission ider (Mr. R. H. Stewart) said: “We I not expect to write huge orders, t what we have achieved in this ly has been very satisfying.

“More important than that, we ve all made really splendid con :ts personally, among the business immunity and at Government level.

I are all sure that these will be of jat benefit for many years to the velopment of trade between our two iintries.”

Hie Union Steam Ship Company’s >tor vessel Tofua, which had been averted into a floating trade fair :h large signs announcing its pur se, was crowded everywhere.

“Everyone wants our goods, but the ces have to be right,” Mr, Stewart d in Pago Pago on July 18, “so in my cases mission members have re wed prices on the spot and got !ers”

Price discussions have been a

feature of the tour, and members say they have welcomed them. Busi ness men in Fiji and West Samoa particularly stressed to the mission that both NZ and Australian manu facturers should arrange special ex port prices to meet tougher com petition for Islands markets. They should also attempt to give quick, detailed quotations.

The strength of Australian business interests in the Pacific islands is one of the things that has most impressed the NZ mission.

When the mission returns to NZ in mid-August, it will probably urge NZ manufacturers to develop their own retail outlets on a similar scale.

They will need to do this if they are to develop and consolidate a NZ share in the Pacific market.

One senior NZ businessman said in Apia: “Our plans will need 12 months’ careful homework, but it’s most important homework.”

Meanwhile, the mission’s welcome in the Islands—especially of its tech nical men, who have been offering gratefully accepted advice—has con vinced the mission that Islands mar kets offer a big future for NZ.

[?] Members of the NZ trade mission were [?] welled at a function in Airways House, [?] land, head office of TEAL, before they [?] by air for Nadi, Fiji, in July. TEAL's [?] eral Manager, Mr. F. A. Reeves (centre) [?] the mission leader, Mr. R. H. Stewart [?] t) and his colleagues that one of the [?] ion's most important tasks was to let [?] le in the South Pacific know that NZ had [?] h more to sell than just meat and dairy [?] ucts. Photo also shows Mr. Woolf Fisher, [?] er of the recent NZ mission to Australia.