N.Z. DELEGATION TO SOVIET

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26662, 22 February 1952, Page 3

N.Z. DELEGATION TO SOVIET

LABOUR FEDERATION NOT APPROACHED (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, February 21. The Federation, of Labour had not received an invitation to send a representative in the proposed New Zealand trade union delegation to 'Russia, said the - secretary of the federation (Mr K. McL. Baxter) to-day. He added that the federation did not expect to receive an invitation. “So far no invitation has been re-, ceived by the Wellington Trades Council or any trade union that I am aware of,” said the secretary of the New Zealand Seamen’s Union (Mr F. P. Walsh)., "Furthermore, if such an invitation were received, knowing the conditions that exist behind the Iron Curtain and their policy of permitting people to see only what they want them to see, I consider it would be futile and a waste of time and good money to take any part in this sham invitation allegedly made to farmers and trade unions to visit Russia.’! The published statement by Mr R. Adams that before seeking the invitation to visit Russia, an unofficial consensus of opinion had been' obtained from both farmers and trade unionists, including the New Zealand Dairy Board, was misleading, said the secretary of the Dairy Board to-day The board had expressed no opinion, but had requested details of the plan for submission to its monthly meeting. The board had been approached bv Mr C. Gough, secretary of the Wellington Dairy Workers’ Union, with a suggestion that representatives of the dairy industry might join a “factfinding expedition” to Russia, added the board's secretary.