MAY GO TO LONDON.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 178, 29 July 1932, Page 3

MAY GO TO LONDON.

NEW ZEALANDERS FROM OTTAWA. MESSRS. STEWART AND PARK. PROBLEMS OF FINANCE. (By Telegraph.—Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, Thursday. Confirmation of a statement that it might be desirable to send the Minister of Finance, the Hon. W. Downie Stewart, and the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. A. D. Park, to London after the Ottawa Conference was given by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. G. W. Forbes, when discussing the possibility of resuming Parliament in September. It might be possible, Mr. Forbes said, that full discussions on the question of reducing interest on part of the funded debt invested in the British conversion loan could be carried out between representatives of the British and Dominion Governments before they left Ottawa. However, any consideration of reductions in interest on any other part of New Zealand's overseas debt was an entirely different question and *ould be the subject of separate negotiations. No specific consideration had been given by the Government to the sending of either Mr. Stewart or Mr. Park to London after Ottawa for the purpose of establishing personal contact with the British financial authorities, Mr. Forbes said, and although it might be desirable to follow this course, there were difficulties in the way, the most important being the fact that Parliament would be meeting about the middle of September and that the presence in NewZealand of both the Minister of Finance and Customs and the Secretary of the Treasury would be necessary. If it really proved necessary for Mr. Stewart and" Mr. Park, or one of them, to go to London, the Government might be prepared to consider a postpone—lent of the session for a short time to enable the London trip to be made. If possible, any postponement of the opening of the session would be avoided, as the Government was anxious to get as much routine work as possible clone before the Ottawa delegates returned to New Zealand. The Cabinet's work would be well forward by the middle of September and it would be ready to meet Parliament then. There was a fair amount of legislation to be brought down, and, of course, this session would see the year's Budget and the Estimates, which had not concerned Parliament during the recent short session.