CANADIAN PRESS DELEGATION

Press, Volume LXXIX, Issue 24124, 7 December 1943, Page 6

CANADIAN PRESS DELEGATION

| STATE LUNCHEON FUTURE OF PACIFIC j DISCUSSED & (P.A.) WELLINGTON, December 6. 3! New Zealand’s appreciation of the hospitality extended by the people of ICanada to airmen from this country i S: who trained there under the Empire air training scheme was expressed by the Deputy-Prime Minister (the Hon. W. ii! Nash) in a welcome to the Canadian K] press delegation at a State luncheon in 'its honour to-day. The members of the i i : delegation are Messrs A. Ford, B. T. hj, Richardson, and L. Pare. Other guests included Ministers of the Crown and J,'* representatives of the press and Allied iJ organisations. , . ■ I Reference to Canada’s contribution to the cause of the United Nations was made by Mr Nash, who said its produc- ' i tion ranked second only to the United Kingdom and the United States of fli America itself. He did not know the i' i conceiver of the Empire air training » ' scheme, though he had heard several 0; names mentioned in that connexion; but he did know that its organisation i •* was almost exclusively the responsibiljj.' ity of Canadian minds, and that bei cause of that organisation men were going forward to do some of the greatest ' work that was being done outside Rus- : sia to destroy Germany. : I The hospitality received by New Zealand airmen training in Canada had i, ! been shared not only by the Canadian I Federal Government and by the pro■l| vincial governments, but by every Cani; adian. ♦f The opinion that the people of New !' Zealand could make a worthwhile conil tribution to the future welfare of the ;l world was expressed by Mr Nash. “We j have something in our freedom that is ■I priceless,” he said, “and I believe that ■'i we can hold it by making sure that ;; other people have it, for our freedom ■•! depends on the freedom of other ■; peoples, too. The small peoples of the ■ j Pacific cannot be menaced by the might of other nations,” J Pacific Problems Mr Ford said that all Canadians were -t; Interested in New Zealand, and in its j social experiments. Canadians and -j New Zealanders always got on well together. New Zealand airmen attending 4 the air training scheme in Canada had I made a great impression with the Can--4 adians. New Zealand, said Mr Ford, , had something worthwhile to contri- \ bute in any plan for raising the standard and conditions of islands of the ’ Pacific. New Zealand could probably ! solve the problem of relationships with • native peoples better than others, for I she had done it in her own country, j They had to take an interest in the whole of the Pacific in the future, and help raise the standard of living, and jj to improve the conditions of Asiatics. H The Pacific would take a predominant i place in the future, and if they could ? not work out some system of goodwill between Europeans and Asiatics, they would only be heading for another world war. Canada was prepared to see the war through in the Pacific as well as in Europe, and after the war to put her feet under the table to work out a better world, both for Europeans and Asiatics. Teheran Conference “New Zealand is an air-conditioned naradise if there were ever such a plaS” aid Mr Richardson. New Zeawnd was a household word to-day. It ■was a country in transition, just as Canada was. Mr Richardson ttat if anything in the world demonstrated the * extent the Allies had taken th? initiative, it was the meetog in Persia of Mr Churchill, President Roosevelt, and Mr Stalin. Last August Mr Churchill and President Roosevelt had met in Quebec, and he had attended the very last press conference on that occasion, when it was said that there would be another meeting before the end of the year, while a hint.was given that the Russians would be there. This conference in Persia had been according to plan. He believed that at the Quebec conference the strategy of the defeat of Germany was pretty wen settled, and that the finishing touches were added to it at thei conference the other day. He believed that the air offensive would play the major part In I the , defeat of Germany. He also believed that some surprises were also coming for Japan. A tribute to Mr Nash’s work in Washington was also paid by Mr Richardson. He said that Mr Nash, whom he had met in Ottawa, had beemne a great figure and citizen in Washington, and was in the news as a member of the pacific War Council. it . Mr Nash said he would not have been able to do what he had in Washington bad it not been for what had been done in New Zealand, and by its men in the Middle East and in the Pacific. It was this that had brought the name of New Zealand to the forefront. ' Mr; Pare also spoke.

VISIT TO CHRISTCHURCH TO-MORROW

The Canadian press delegation which arrived in New Zealand on Saturday will visit Christchurch to-morrow, travelling by air from Dunedin. The delegation will return to Auckland on Thursday, making a brief stop at Wellington. The leader of the delegation, Mr A. TL Ford, is editor of the “Free Press," London, Ontario, and also president of the Canadian Press, a co-operative news agency, which serves a large number of Canadian newspapers. Mr B. T. Richardson is Parliamentary correspondent in Ottawa of the “Winnipeg Free Press,” and Mr Lorenzo Pare is Parliamentary correspondent in Ottawa of “L’Actlon Catholique,” a dally newspaper in Quebec, and one of the leading French language publications in Canada.