N.Z. should help Vietnam, says M.P.

Press, 11 June 1982, Page 10

N.Z. should help Vietnam, says M.P.

PA Wanganui New Zealand had a moral responsibility to keep in contact with Vietnam and to help with aid programmes, the member of Parliament for Wanganui. Mr C. R. Marshall. has said. He has just returned from a six-day visit to North Vietnam and Smith Vietnam with a World Council of Churches group. He was concerned to see large groups of children, "who obviously had European or Negro fathers, hanging about hotels hoping someone will take pity on them and give them money. They stick out like sore thumbs," he said. Nothing was being done for them, because when Vietnam became totally Communist. aid programmes from other countries stopped, said Mr Marshall. New Zealand should send a group of veterans there to observe the changes that

have taken place, and to meet the people that they once fought, he said. Ideally, such a group would be accompanied by a television crew. He had met an American veterans group accompanied by a television crew. The Vietnamese people seemed well, but the economy was recovering very slowly. Large amounts of money was being spent on defence, because of a fear o! invasion by China. Petrol was scarce. There were no petrol stations, and bicycles had replaced motorcycles. Many shops in the south and north of Vietnam were closed, but there were more goods for sale in the south, possibly because of a black market, said Mr Marshall. The Council of Churches group intended to visit Kampuchea. but because of a delay with visas, only one of the group of six was able to cross the border, he said.