CHURCHILL VISIT

Auckland Star, Volume LXXIV, Issue 303, 22 December 1943, Page 5

CHURCHILL VISIT

"COME TO AUSTRALIA" Possibility Of Air Journey Suggested N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent Rec. noon. SYDNEY, this day. That the Prime Minister of Britain, Mr. Churchill, may be invited to spend his period of convalescence in Australia is suggested by the political correspondent of the Sydney Daily Telegraph. Mr. Churchill's medical advisers, the correspondent says, have told him that he needs a complete change "in a bra-cing climate." Several Commonwealth Ministers have expressed themselves as favouring the sending of an invitation. They point out that if Mr. Churchill is in North Africa he is already nearly half-way to Australia and that the trip by aeroplane to this country would be comparatively short and safe. The Prime Minister, Mr. Curtin. has cabled Mr. Churchill expressing "our deepest sorrow and concern that in the midst of your great work you should have become ill. All Australians hope and pray for your wellbeing and quick recovery." Commentators on the suggestion that Mr. Churchill be invited to come to Australia point out that, if his health permits, the projected meeting of Australian and New Zealand Ministers in Australia next month might offer an occasion for informal discussions of Pacific problems such as bases for the United States and Mr. Curtin's proposals for the future of the Empire.

A cable from Sydney, published in Monday's Star, stated:—"Early talks between Australia and New Zealand on the future shape of Pacific affairs are being predicted by political observers here. The Sydney Morning Herald's Canberra correspondent says that, while no public announcement has yet been made there are grounds for expecting the arrival in Australia next month of a New Zealand delegation headed by the Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser."