DUTCH MINISTERS IN WELLINGTON

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 199, 20 May 1941, Page 8

DUTCH MINISTERS IN WELLINGTON

Confidence In Victory

QUEEN WILHELMINA’S FAITH UNSHAKEN

That the Allies will prove victorious

in the struggle against the totalitarian nations is the firm belief of two Ministers of the Netherlands Government, Mr. E. N. Van Kieffens, Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Air. C. .1. I. Al. Welter. Minister of Colonies, who arrived in Wellington by train yesterday morning in the course ot a brief visit to Now Zealand before returning to Loudon, where the Netherlands Government has its headquarters.

Accompanying the Ministers are Mrs. Van Kieffens, Dr. F. L. Rutgers (deputy chief of the economic division ot the'ColoiHal Office), W. Peekema (head of the legal division of the Colonial Office), and Count W. Van Rechteren (counsellor of the Dutch Legation at Washington). The visitors were met on arrival by the Acting-Prime Minister of New Zealand, Air. Nash; acting-consul for the Netherlands Government in New Zealand, Mr. M. F. Vigeveno, and Mrs. Vigeveno and daughter; Sir Harry Batterbee, High Commissioner for the United Kingdom; Dr. AV. A. Riddell, High Commissioner for Canada; and Air. J. W. Heenan, Under-Secretary of the Internal Affairs Department. Miss Vigeveno presented a bouquet to Airs. Kieffens. The Dutch Ministers took up their headquarters at the Hotel AVaterloo, and during the morning made formal calls on the Acting-Prime Minister and the mayor of AVelliffgton, Air. Hislop, the latter returning the call in the afternoon. , At 2.30 p.m., Air. Van Kieffens laid a wreath on the Cenotaph, after which the visiting party were taken on a sight-seeing tour of the city and its environs.

Today the Netherlands Ministers will be' entertained at a Stale luncheon at 12.45 p.m., and they will be the guests of Mr. Vigeveno at a cocktail party at the Hotel Waterloo at 5 p.m. This evening they will be the guests of Sir Harry Batterbee at dinner. Confident of Victory.

Interviewed yesterday, Mr. Van Kieffens said the greenness of the pastures and the orderliness of the fences dividing properties seen on the way down from Auckland reminded them of their own country. It was just this orderliness which the people of the Netherlands possessed in common with the Anglo-Saxon race, which made them so superior as airmen. The British; American, and Dutch airmen believed in thoroughness, and it was this which gave them such an advantage in the air. The appalling losses which the French air services to South America suffered were because they did not. thoroughly overhaul their machines, and see that every part was perfect before undertaking long flights. Mr. Kieffens said that the people of the Netherlands were convinced that victory would be won in the present war by Great Britain and her Allies. Queen’ AVilhelmina had never wavered from this belief. The queen, driven from her throne, after reigning for 40 years, had had a trying experience, but her faith that the cause of right would eventually triumph over might burned very brightly. “.lust think.” he said, “how Queen Victoria would have felt had she been driven, from her throne after her golden jubilee.” Mr. Welter was equally sanguine that the democratic countries would come out victorious in the present world conflict. Now that Great Britain and the United States had strengthened their position in the Pacific there was no chance of Germany succeeding in her mad attempt to overrun the world.