BRITAIN TO NEW ZEALAND

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24444, 19 December 1944, Page 4

BRITAIN TO NEW ZEALAND

LONG WAITING LIST OF PASSENGERS

ACCOMMODATION \“EXTREMELY SCARCE” (P.A.) WELLINGTON. Dec. 18. In a statement to-day the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser) said his attention had been drawn by the High Commissioner in London (Mr W. J. Jordan) both to the accumulation of people awaiting passage from the United Kingdom to New Zealand, and to the number of requests that were continually being made to him for the provision of a passage from the United Kingdom to New Zealand. Mr Jordan eihpnasised the necessity for warning people against going to the United Kingdom in the hope of obtaining a return ship. Mr Fraser added that Mr Jordan had on several occasions advised that the shipping position continued to be most difficult, and accommodation extremely scarce. There was a waiting list of hundreds of pagsengers including some wives of members of the New Zealand Forestry unit who'left England in September, 1943, and at the present rate it was estimated that to provide transport for those now on the waiting list would take about 18 months. The United Kingdom Government had been approached repeatedly, continued Mr Fraser, and it fully appreciated the, anxiety of the New Zealand Government that an early passage to New Zealand should be provided for those people, and especially for the wives of servicemen who had already returned from the United Kingdom, and Mr Jordan recently discussed the whole matter with .the Minister of War Transport (Lord Leathers). ■ “I know it will be realised,” said Mr Fraser, “that the war must continue to have first call upon shipping resources. I can, however, assure all those concerned that Mr Jordan and the Government of New Zealand will continue to make every effort to ensure that, within the limits of available transport, passage from the United Kingdom to New Zealand is provided with the least possible delay for those who are waiting for a passage, and for those whose cases fairly merit some degree of priority. I should add that war considerations and the lack of shipping space still demand that there be no relaxation of the existing restrictions upon passenger travel to and from this country generally, and especially I would like to point out the probability of delay in the return to New Zealand of anyone who has occasion to go to the United Kingdom.”