A FEW BRIGHT IDEAS

Press, 10 December 1983, Page 20

A FEW BRIGHT IDEAS

By

WHIM WHAM

That bit of prime New Delhi Real Estate, Let’s put It on the Market — if we can — When will we ever build on It? Or plan A Chancellery? Let Mrs Gandhi wait! The Lease that India gave is Ours to sell (We say) for Millions on some kind of Black Spot Market — India wants to buy It back, WE want the highest Bidder — truth to tell, We need the Cash, we’ll argue the Legality — Money’s the Thing, the Rest is Whimsicality. Do Kiwis care if Indians, for their Part, Say we are Shabby when we think we’re Smart?

On the Rue Leonard de Vinci, Paris, we don’t yet show Any FOR SALE sign on the Buildings — SNZIOO Million Dollars 0.n.0. World Sole Agents, Muldoon, Cooper, Norrish, & Co. — This historic Embassy Property, Chancellery Offices, sumptuous Residence/Suit oil-rich Third World Power or Military Regime (U.S. Advisers preferred)/ Vacant Possession/Vendor’s urgency Due temporary Budget Emergency. ♦ ♦ ♦ On the Haymarket, London, a tall Building stands, New Zealand House! Why is It still on our Hands After all these Years? Do we NEED all that Space In the Heart of the West End? Think what the Place Must be worth! What’s the High Commission But a Bed for a tired or retired Politician? Can’t some suitable Private Sector Person attend A few Banquets, and spend A few Hours with the PM or All Blacks, and go On Errands to the v.i.p. Lounge at Heathrow? Think of the Price we could get for What’s only A Block where the Security Guards look lonely! With That, plus New Delhi, and our Paris Mansion (And some valuable Premises in Washington, D.C.) We could raise, couldn’t We? The Wind for the Marsden Point Expansion, Or the Interest on PART of the Debt — The only Expansion that’s visible, yet. * * ♦ A Diplomatic Service run By Secretaries in Wellington? Six or Morfe for the Price of One! *