MEETING WITH CHURCHILL

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 23973, 14 June 1943, Page 3

MEETING WITH CHURCHILL

N,Z. MINISTER IN LONDON LONDON, June 11. The New Zealand Minister of Defence (the Hon. F. Jones) to-day met Mr Churchill at No. 10 Downing Street and the First Lord of the Admiralty (Mr A. V. Alexander), the Secretary of State for War (Sir James Grigg) and the Secretary of State for Air (Sir Archibald Sinclair) at Whitehall. Mr Jones spent a quarter of an hour with Mr Churchill, who again took the opportunity of expressing his admiration for New Zealand’s war effort and praising the New Zealand Division. Mr Jones discussed many matters relating to the Royal New Zealand Air Force with Sir Archibald Sinclair, and expressed a wish that when Britain was in a position to do so and had the latest Spitfires to spare, New Zealand would like to be considered. Commenting on his stay in England, Mr Jones said that one of the things which impressed him mosi was the wonderful work done in the munition factories, where the workers were working long hours in turning out enormous quantities of war materials. He had also been impressed by the many new improvements in armaments to increase their fire power. Mr Jones paid a tribute to the Minister of Food (Lord Woolton) for his “splendid job” in connexion with rationing. “Wherever I have been, the people, in spite of the shortages of certain commodities, seem well fed and healthy,” he said. “There is no doubt that rationing is carried out with very little friction. In spite of the clothing restrictions, one must say that the people appear to he remarkably well dressed, particularly the women.”