Mr Allen has no comment for journalists

Press, 21 April 1984, Page 3

Mr Allen has no comment for journalists

PA Tauranga The Minister of Customs, Mr Allen, would not speak to journalists on Thursday when he made his first public appearance in nearly three weeks. The Minister presented a clothing firm in Tauranga with an export award and spoke publicly for quarter of an hour. His press secretary, Mr R. McCallum, told journalists the presentation was “neither the time nor the place” for interviews about Mr Allen’s condition. “The Minister is here to do a specific job,” the secretary said. In his address Mr Allen praised the efforts of Earthware Imports, Ltd, which produces swimwear exported to 12 countries. From a $70,000-a-year business with a staff of three in 1976 it now employed more than 100 people and earned export sales exceeding $2 million, said Mr Allen. The chairman of the Tau-

ranga electorate of the New Zealand Party, Mr M. D. M. Batchelor on Thursday asked Mr Allen to make “a full, frank and satisfactory account” of recent events affecting him if he intended to see out the parliamentary term. Mr Batchelor said that until now the party had purposely refrained from commenting on the events. “The essential question for Tauranga is whether Mr Allen is totally fit to continue his duties as the member representing the electorate. “But Mr Allen, more than most, will know that this progressive and developing district demands the best and totally effective representation in Wellington,” Mr Batchelor said.