ENTENTE CORDIALE.

Auckland Star, Volume 23, Issue 23, 28 January 1926, Page 8

ENTENTE CORDIALE.

OVERSEA RELATIONS. HAPPY SPEECHES AT DIJNEDIN. BY FRENCH AND AUSTRALIAN REPRESENTATIVES. (By Telegraph.-Own Correspondent.) DUNEDIN, this day. At a civic reception, Captain de Fregate Deeoux. of the French sloop CassiSpec, said he had been to the Exhibition, and was happy to know it was a -reat success. It was an honour to him to have represented the French Navy. and, he might say, the French Government, during some days ot the Exhibition. He was happy o have brought here proof of the friendship of France to the Dominion of New ._ealand. Tribute to New Zealand Soldiers. "In France," he said, "we do not forget; we always remember. Before the war, there were few occasions upon which the French people met the ISew Zealanders, with the exception of some naval officers who came here, but during the war there was a great change. The French people had occasion to see the New Zealand soldiers fighting side by side with our soldiers. Everybody in France knows your soldiers behaved splendidly, and that is the reason why the friendship of France for New Zealand will last for ever." Australia and New Zealand. Mr. Clive McPherson. special commissioner from the Australian Government to report on the Exhibition, at a reception accorded him, said that in Mr. Bruce, Australia had a great Prime Minister. He was a great Imperialist, and there was nothiug he would not do to improve relations between Australia and New Zealand. "I think I am safe in saying," said Mr. McPherson, ''that the Government of Australia has not yet visualised the great success that the Exhibition here has been. I am satisfied that the success of the Exhibition is beyond all anticipation. It will forge another great link in tbe chain of Imperial trade, and, coming in the aftermath of the Great War. with the world in its chaotic state, it was a very happy thought to bring the Dominions together at Logan Park in a gathering such as this. It is of the greatest importance that New Zealand and Australia should get together and increase their volume of trade. In the past something might have hindered this, but I am sure that Mr. Bruce will do all in bis power to produce the greatest volume of trade possible. Stimulating Trade. '"'After interviews I have had with your Prime Minister. Mr. Coates," continued Mr. McPherson, "I have the greatest confidence that the items in the reciprocal tariff that has been in existence since 1022 will be revised, and that every effort will be made to stimulate trade. It has been said that some feeling exists between certain t-ections in New Zealand and Australia. Since I have been here. I have been unable to detect the presence of any such feeliii!». But if this is so. the onus is on every serious-minded man to combat this feeling, because the destinies cf the two countries are so interwoven that such a feeling cannot be allowed to exist."