On October 11, 1976, The Fiji Times published an article about the retiring New Zealand High Commissioner, Sir John Grace, who said New Zealand would always stand by Fiji.
He said the ties between the two countries were very close.
Sir John, who had completed a three-year term in Fiji, forecasted that New Zealand aid would increase, saying that when he had arrived in Fiji, there was no aid at all.
He took on his role of requesting his government to step up with aid.
New Zealand gave $500,000 in aid between 1971 and 1972; and just over $2million between 1972 and 1973, which included a special hurricane relief aid, $1.5m from 1973 and 1974 and allocated $2m for 1974 to 1975.
Sir John said aid allocations had been in cash during his tenure in office, and that he felt that more could have been given by a way of expertise.
He said the best aid that New Zealand could have given Fiji was trade, and he’d made every endeavour to increase trade with Fiji.
Sir John said New Zealand appreciated the fact that trade was a two-way business; Fiji’s arts and crafts could be readily admitted to New Zealand and tariffs would be put aside to enable it.
Asked for his views on the political climate in Fiji, he responded that the country had been independent for only three years and was not really “settled down” properly.
He also had thought that the political situation had been satisfactory and was important for the leaders of the political parties to realise that any differences would jeopardise Fiji’s stability.
If the leaders realised this, he added, Fiji would have a good future.
