Hong Kong Garment Exports to Canada
Valuation for Duty
I rang Mr. Stitt from Montreal, asked him the state of play and whether he thought it would be useful for me to call on Mr. Hind of D.N.R. Mr. Stitt thought not. He said the matter was proceed- ing satisfactorily and that he thought further intervention might be counter-productive. The only thing bothering D.N.R. now was, apparently, the discrepancy between the results of Mr. Millman's first enquiries and those of his second effort. We had already made it fairly clear (I had done this myself with Mr. Benson and Mr. Hind) that this was due in large part to Mr. Millman's mistaken circumvention of the Department. If we were to hammer this point at D.N.R., we might force them to defend Millman.
2.
I rang.
The above conveys Mr. Stitt's off-the-cuff comments when He undertook however to call for a 'status report' on the matter and to let me know through B.H.C. in Ottawa if there was any- thing new and specifically whether in the light of this report he saw advantage in my calling on Mr. Hind. I heard nothing further from Mr. Stitt while I was in Ottawa.
Visit to British High Commission, Ottawa
3.
I had a rather general short talk with Mr. Robin Gray on the current political atmosphere (considerable pressure from the textile industry, particularly shirt manufacturers) and on the person- alities Rodney Grey and Gorse Howarth.
4.
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Through the First Secretary (Commercial), Mr. John Guinness, I got import figures on knitted shirts and production figures for 1966. Mr. Guinness had only just taken over from Mr. Thomas.
5.
I had a short conversation with Sir Colin Crowe, the High Commissioner, after I returned from the Ministry of Finance.
6.
Although our telegram of 7 June was 463 to FCO, and my telegram on my decision to go to Ottawa was sent from London, B.H.C. had heard nothing from London and had no instructions with regard to my talks on P/P shirts.
Conversations in the Ministry of Finance
7.
Mr. Howarth and I had a short off-the-record conversation before we started our full session, for which I was accompanied by Mr. Guinness, and Mr. Howarth had two assi stants, Messrs. Clarke and McKillop. Clarke is the rather dour unfriendly young man who was present at last July's talks. He was a little easier to get on with this time.
Timing of Annual Consultations
8.
When these others joined us the first subject was the timing for consultations on extensions of existing restraints. The Canadians would have difficulty in fielding a team in July.
I said I thought July or August would probably suit us equally well.!
Howarth floated the possibility of consulting in Geneva in September. I said this might be possible but mentioned that we had Cotton Textiles Committee (certain), Norwegians (almost certain), and
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