Tributes

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30452, 28 May 1964, Page 1

Tributes

(N Z.P.A.-Reuter—Copyright) LONDON, May 27.

Earl Attlee, the former Prime Minister of Britain, said today Mr Nehru “was a great ■world figure and perhaps might be regarded as a doyen of world statesmen.” Lord Attlee, who was Prime Minister when India became independent in 1947, said Mr Nehru’s place “will be very difficult to fill.’’ Lord Attlee said Mr Nehru had been put in prison by British Governments for many years yet he never showed any bitterness but with “wise statesmanship did all he could to promote friendship between the two peoples.” Mr Nehru’s death was "a tragic loss for India, and a grievous misfortune for the free world,” Lord Avon. said. The Queen is sending a personal message of condolence to India. The British Prime Minister, Sir Alec Douglas-Home, and Lord Mountbatten are flying to India this afternoon to attend the funeral of Mr Nehru. "Shock and a feeling of irreparable loss to the people of India” was expressed by the New Zealand Prime Minister, Mr Holyoake, in Wellington. The Leader of the Opposition (Mr Nordmeyer) said: “His considerable influence was used again and again to blunt the edge of conflict and to restrain aggressive tendencies. Not India alone, but the whole world, is the poorer for his passing, but the richer for his life.”

(Mr Nehru's career is recorded on Page 15.]