SEATO MILITARY PLANNERS

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27985, 4 June 1956, Page 10

SEATO MILITARY PLANNERS

THIRD MEETING AT SINGAPORE DELEGATION FROM N.Z. NAMED (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, June 3. The military staff planners who are the senior representatives of the military advisers of the eight member nations of the South-east Asia Treaty Organisation, will meet in Singapore between June 11 and June 28, the Minister of External Affairs (Mr T. L. Macdonald) announced today. The meeting will be the third the military planners have held. Senior service officers from Australia. France, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Thailand, the United Kingdom and the United States will take part in the discussions. The talks will mark a further step in the orderly planning and consultations which are an essential part of the military collective def. nee agreement binding the SEATO nations.

The New Zealand delegation will be led by Lieutenant-Colonel R. B. Dawson. Director of Plans at Army Headquarters. Other members will be Wing Commander B. V. le Pine, director of Air Staff Policy and Plans. Air Force Headquarters. Lieutenant Commander W. R. Williams. DeputyDirector of Plans. Navy Office, and Major S. R. Jensen. Director of Military Intelligence, Army Headquarters. Lieutenant-Colonel H. A. Purcell, military liaison officer on the staff of the Commissioner for New Zealand in South-east Asia (Mr Foss Shanahan) will join the delegation in Singapore. The report of the military planners on their previous dscussions at Pearl Harbour in November last year was considered by the military advisers who met in Melbourne in January.