PROGRAMME FOR U.N. SESSION

Press, Volume XCVI, Issue 28386, 19 September 1957, Page 13

PROGRAMME FOR U.N. SESSION

Forecast By New President

(N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) (Rec. 9 p.m.) NEW YORK, Sept. 17. Sir Leslie Munro, President of the United Nations General Assembly, tonight confirmed the opinion that the new session will have disarmament as its No. 1 issue.

He said he expected agreement among delegations to give priority to this question. He declined to speculate on the degrees of priority which would be given to the Cyprus and Algerian questions. Sir Leslie Munro, New Zealand’s Ambassador to the United States and chief of its delegation to the United Nations, was warmly congratulated by correspondents at his first press conference since his election to the presidency.

“I have been a journalist myself for 10 years and you may, therefore, imagine how highly I value your congratulations,” he told Mr Bruce Munn, president of the Correspondents’ Association.

On the disarmament issue, Sir Leslie Munro could not suggest “what should be done,” but there was “a pretty general desire among all parties to have a discussion as soon as possible.” He thought every effort should be made to effect a settlement of the issue which has long been in deadlock. s Sir Leslie Munro said he could see no reason why the new Assembly should not be tranquil. After dozens of speeches of tribute in the Assembly to Sir Leslie Munro, to Malaya and to Britain for leading the new nation to independence, diplomats dubbed the occasion “Commonwealth Day.” South Africa returned briefly to the, Assembly today. It was understood that her main reason was to vote for Sir Leslie Munro. She withdrew all but token representation at the last Assembly in protest against repeated debates about her racial policies, but a South African spokesman said today she would be on hand at this Assembly whenever mat T ters arose of special interest to the union. (Earlier Reference Page 18)