Albanians’ Absence Puzzles Party

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31032, 12 April 1966, Page 11

Albanians’ Absence Puzzles Party

(N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, April 10. Delegates to the national conference of the New Zealand Communist Party in Auckland are puzzled by the absence of the Albanian delegation.

Mr V. G. Wilcox, the general secretary of the party in New Zealand, said the statement by the External Affairs Department that the Albanians had cancelled their visa application was inexplicable.

The Albanian Communist Party had cabled the conference claiming that its three delegates had been denied an entry permit into New Zealand at the last minute. Mr Wilcox said a second cable had been received from Albania sending greetings to the conference delegates and repeating the earlier assertion that the Albanian delegation had been unable to attend because of visa difficulties. He said the conference replied to this message yesterday telling the Albanians that the External Affairs Department claimed visas were available.

The Chinese and Belgian delegates to the conference had been freely admitted to New Zealand. He presumed that the Albanians would be dealing with the British Embassy in Albania in applying for New Zealand visas.

The North Vietnam News Agency reported today that the North Vietnamese Workers (Communist) Party had sent a message to the New Zealand Communist Party yesterday, offering warmest greetings for the “brilliant success” of its national conference.

The agency said the message thanked the pro-Peking New Zealand party for its “active support to the just struggle of the Vietnamese people against the United States imperialist aggressors.” New Zealand communists followed China in rejecting an invitation to the recently concluded Soviet party congress, but North Vietnam accepted.