"Check to ensure everything is correct."
He was a very good teacher and, while I accept that my skills of using words and general grammar are not exactly smoothly honed, when I send something away, or order something, I get the details right.
Unfortunately, not all teachers appear to have driven that message home firmly enough to others of my era, or who came after me.
The simple act of providing the correct names, using the correct words, has led to two completely unnecessary hits on New Zealand exporters over the past fortnight.
International trade requires certification in accordance with contracts and agreements which have been forged.
Accurate certification. If a label or names on a document or shipment don't match what's essentially been laid out in a contract, then the stop sign comes out.
As it did when a huge shipment of lamb to China arrived in Shanghai. Basically, the paperwork was flawed as there had been an unaccounted for name change on the export documentation. So it sat on the docks and not in the shops.
The same thing happened with a shipment of apples (100 containers' worth from Hawke's Bay), which arrived in Russia back in March. They were held up for 11 days because of a name change of the export certification. Someone, in a government ministry somewhere, got it wrong.
"Check to ensure everything is correct," that teacher once said. I did to ensure I didn't jeopardise 10 shillings.
Seems when millions of dollars are involved, it's not so important any more.
