Help for Fiji 'heartening’

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33065, 4 November 1972, Page 2

Help for Fiji 'heartening’

(New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, November 3. The Prime Minister (Mr Marshall) said today that he was most heartened by the readiness of New Zealanders to offer practical help to Fiji in the aftermath of Hurricane Bebe.

“Both the Government and people have reacted in a way which reflects our strong sense of kinship with a Pacific neighbour in time of trouble, and indeed New Zealand has been first in the field with aid,” he said. Mr Marshall said the New Zealand High Commissioner in Fiji (Sir John Grace) had reported that almost all of the 500 tents sent from New Zealand had now been distributed to hurricane-affected areas. The two Royal New Zealand Air Force Iroquois helicopters yesterday flew about 25 misisons to deliver more than two tons of supplies to isolated districts, said Mr Marshall. Before beginning relief work the helicopters flew 11 New Zealand Army enginers, in Fiji on an Army exercise, from Suva to Lautoka, where they were helping restore badly damaged houses and schools. The arrival in Nandi yesterday of a water pump from New Zealand had averted a potential health hazard and allowed the return to normal of the water supply in the

hard-hit Nandi region, he added. “The R.N.Z.A.F. has assisted in transporting large quantities of relief supplies of clothing, food and building materials collected by several private organisations in New Zealand, including the Red Cross,” Mr Marshall said. "There is still some uncertainty about conditions in the outlying parts of Fiji and about the longer-term requirements for relief and reconstruction,” said Mr Marshall. But it was clear that the emergency aid already supplied was being put to good use, and the Government was ready to offer further assistance, he said.