Prime Minister’s Courteous Reply’

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31627, 13 March 1968, Page 6

Prime Minister’s Courteous Reply’

The Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) has written to the organisers of the “Peace, Power and Politics in Asia” conference saying that he “hopes that a set of realistic policies will emerge from the conference.” The conference will be held in Wellington from March 30 to April 2.. Mr Holyoake wrote a fourpage reply to the conference committee replying to questions it had put to him about New Zealand’s role in Asia. He said that “New Zealand’s limited resources prevent us from playing a leading role in assisting Asian countries to achieve political stability in the area . . . (we) contribute what we can ... It is for the South-East Asian nations themselves to determine what kind of societies they will have in the future.” A member of the conference committee, Mr J. Gough, said in a statement that the committee was writing to Mr Holyoake to thank him for his courteous and detailed reply. The committee had written to all the member-govern-ments of S.E.A.T.O. and others involved in the area, to obtain their current views on Asian developments for the “Peace, Power and Politics in Asia” conference.

Mr Gough said that Mr Holyoake, by his reply, had recognised that the conference organisers were holding a serious and high-level conference with good aims. The American Embassy sent no acknowledgement of the committee’s letter and only a bunch of pamphlets. “Mr Holyoake’s courtesy] comes out well when compared with arrogant actions like this,” said Mr Gough.