"WELL JUSTIFIED"

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 219, 15 September 1945, Page 7

"WELL JUSTIFIED"

OFFICER IN MOSCOW

COST OF £29,000 DEFENDED

Parliamentary Reporter. WELLINGTON, this day. Justification for the appointment of a New Zealand Minister to Moscow was given in the House of Representatives yesterday afternoon by the Prime Minister. Mr. Fraser, following an appeal by Mr. Goosman (Nat., Waikato) that the people and the House be told what advantage the Dominion was gaining from the expenditure of £29,000, the estimate for the current financial year.

From the trade viewpoint alone, said Mr. Fraser, the appointment was a thousand times justified, and the Dominion would be very grateful for the work being done. The Minister in Moscow was very industrious and had sent numerous and valuable reports, and the question was whether selections from those reports could be published. They would give information of value to the people of New Zealand and the Government would certainly look into the matter and see what could be done. It was obvious that certain reports from diplomatic quarters could not be made public. The Minister had made Inquiries into many industries and the Dominion would be very grateful that negotiations and business had been opened up with Russia, who was a good honest customer. New Zealand, he said, could not afford to ignore a country that occupied so much territory, and it was only common sense that when Canada, South Africa and Australia had their representatives there the Dominion should be represented.

France had invited New Zealand to send a representative but that could not be done at the moment, and in the meantime the British Embassy in Pat-is had to be utilised. If necessary, the High Commissioner in London could make a trip to Paris. After France was reconstructed it might be well worth the Dominion's while to have direct representation.