HILLARY-FUCHS MESSAGES

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28481, 10 January 1958, Page 10

HILLARY-FUCHS MESSAGES

Regret Expressed At

Publication

(N.Z. Press 'Association—Copyright)

LONDON, January 8. A spokesman at the transAntarctic Expedition headquarters in London today expressed deep regret that Sir Edmund Hillary’s cablegram to Dr. Fuchs, was published.

“The chairman of the Ross Sea Committee (Mr Charles Bowden) has said at Wellington that Hillary’s message was inadvertently mixed up with a number of press messages,” he said. This explanation had been accepted by the London headquarters.

“We are sorry that it happened, but once the message had been broadcast in New Zealand we had no alternative, but to publish its text,” the spokesman said. “Controversy In NJZ.”

The “Evening News” diarist said today that the row between Sir Edmund Hillary and Dr. Fuchs had sparked off the biggest controversy for years in New Zealand.

Although Sir Edmund Hillary was a New Zealander, the feeling was by no means all on his side, said the writer.

“New Zealanders are so inherently loyal to the British idea of fair play that they are only too anxious to support the man they think has had the worst end of the bargain,” the diarist said.