Courtesy, Protests On Ky

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31269, 16 January 1967, Page 3

Courtesy, Protests On Ky

(N.Z. Press Association) HAMILTON, Jan. 13. Courtesy should be extended to all guests of the nation, even if they were controversial figures, the Mayor of Hamilton (Dr. Denis Rogers) said today. Dr. Rogers was commenting on the proposed visit to Hamilton of Air Vice-Marshal Ky. Details of the visit are still unconfirmed but it is believed he will lunch in the city on January 25. Dr. Rogers said that if invited to a function for the South Vietnamese Prime Minister, he would attend. “Whep one accepts public

office one also accepts the public duty and responsibility that goes with it,” he said. “Those who express displeasure at the visit,” Dr. Rogers said, “should take this up with the Government which invited him, not with the man who accepted the invitation.” Death Threat

An anonymous threat to kill Air Vice-Marshal Ky if he set foot in New Zealand was contained in a letter received today by the editor of the “Waikato Times." The letter carries the nom de plume “Five Kiwis” and its authors say they have posted a copy to the Police Department. The letter bears a Hamilton postmark but the authors say they do not live in Hamilton. The Mayor of Mount Wei-

lington, Mr R. M. McCulloch, will not attend the mayoral reception for Air Vice-Marshal Ky in Auckland on January 25.

Mr McCulloch said he would be in the South Island at the time, but even if he were still in Auckland he would not attend.

“Mr Ky has so much trouble in his own country, I think he should stay there and look after it,” he said. Open Letter In an open letter to Air Vice-Marshal Ky, the United Nations Association of New Zealand has called for South Vietnam’s support for U Thant’s peace efforts in Vietnam.

The letter, signed by the Dominion president of the association, Mr M. S. Pih, says: “It is my association’s earnest wish that your Government gives its wholehearted support to U Thant’s efforts to secure the immediate cessation of hostilities and the convening of a peace conference. The recent unanimous re-election of U Thant as Secretary-General of the United Nations makes him an acceptable neutral negotiator for these purposes. "Your Government’s recognition of this fact would certainly be welcomed by my association in particular and I believe by the people of New Zealand in general.”

The letter also expresses the association’s belief in the principle of universality of membership of the United Nations with the admisison of both South and North Vietnam.