Former N.Z. Man As Adviser To Eden

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27591, 23 February 1955, Page 13

Former N.Z. Man As Adviser To Eden

LONDON, February 21. Described by the “Daily Mall 1 ' as “one of the really brilliant men in Britain’s Foreign Office,” Mr William Denis Allen, who was educated at the Wanganui Collegiate School, is accompanying the Foreign Secretary (Sir Anthony Eden) to the S.E.A.T.O. Council conference in Bangkok. Mr Allen, who is 44, is head of the Foreign Office Far East Department He completed his education at Pembroke College, Cambridge, and became Third Secretary in the diplomatic serY’ ce 1” 1934. He was transferred to the British Embassy in China In 1938, promoted Second Secretary in the following year, and was seconded to the staff in the Far East in 1941. He was Charge d ’Affaires in Chungking tn 1942, returned to the Foreign Office and became First Secretary in 1944. . Two years later he went to Washington as counsellor and returned to the Foreign Office in 1949. After a S erica as head of the German political epartment, he became an under-sec-retary dealing with Far Eastern affairs. He is regarded as a Foreign Office “expert on the Far East. The “Daily Mail” says: “It is typical °. f „ our way Of government that Mr Allen who is practically unknown outside Whitehall, should be one of the most influential men in the country—in formulating foreign policy. He Is tne sort of man you would pass in a crowd, but would never fail to notice round the conference table. The much abused word of ‘expert’ is justly aj>plied to him. Small wonder that Sir Anthony Eden likes to have him around.”