PRESS DELEGATES

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 138, 7 December 1918, Page 10

PRESS DELEGATES

I THE IMPERIAL VISIT The invitation from the British Ministry of Information to the editors and proprietors of newspapers published in the Overseas Dominions to visit Great Britain as guests of the Government was issued at the end of May last. The representatives from New Zealand were as follow :—Mr. George Penwick, Dunedin (who was unanimously chosen by his colleagues as chairman); Mr. M. h. Reading, Christchurch; Mr. Charles Earle and the Hon. W. J. Geddis, Wellington; Mr. It. M. Hacket, Auckland; and Mr. Fred. Pifani, Feilding, as representative of the provincial press. The terms of the, invitation were sufficiently specific as far as they disclosed the desire of the Imperial Government, acting through Lord Beaverbrook, that their visitors should see the great efforts Great Britain had made, and wa3 still making, to perform her full share in repelling the determination of a powerful military nation to take a paramount and dominant position in the affairs of the world. The invitation, however, left some doubt as to the extent to which the visitors were to be taken into the confidence of the Government in relation.to the war and the position of the country. :It was a natural assumption that there would be a certain amount of confidential information imparted to it 3 guests by the Government, but as to the scope of that information there was some speculation. The delegation looked forward, however, to being given, confidentially, information that would be enlightening and instructive j from their point of view as representing the newspaper world of their respective Dominions, and especially of the Government's decisions on matters of public policy such as would affect the Empire as a, whole on the declaration of peace. Information on many important matters ■ —such, for example, as reconstruction as applied to the social and industrial life of the people of Great Britain after., the war; more effective control of the sale of alcoholic liquor (such as the testing of that control in the experiment' at Carlisle) ; the efforts that were being made or proposed to deal with danger from the contraction of venereal disease by the overseas' troops on their arrival in England and when on leave from the battlefronts, and so on. On many of these matters valuable information was given, but it was not until the close of the tour that any important speech to the delegates was made by a Minister. This took place at a farewell luncheon given by the Minister of Information, at which only the delegates were present. In wishing them good-bye and a safe return to their homes, Lord Beaverbrook availed himself of the opportnuity to disclose things that were impressive and not within the knowledge of the ordinary citizen. It is to be regarded as an honour to the Dominions press that it is looked upon by the Minister as a safe depository of confidential information of the kind, and the knowledge thus gained will enable the visiting journalists in their public writings to deal with the whole question of; Britain's relation to ] the war and its outcome with the confidence that a certain measure of inside | knowledge abne can give. j

As to the tour itself, the members of the New Zealand delegation can only speak for themselves. They do so in terms of unqualified satisfaction. From the moment they stepped ashore at liverpool from the White Star liner Adriatic, on the 26th July, until their embarkation for New York by the Bed Star Company's fine steamer Lapland, on the 6th October, they received every possible attention and courtesy from the Minister i of Information and his official staff. It is with the greatest pleasure this acknowledgment is made, and the New Zealand delegates tender to the Minister and to General Sims, Colonel Eliott, Colonel Galloway, Major Wrench, Major Montagu, Major Annand, Mr. Doidge, and Dr. Purves, of the Ministerial staff, their very cordial thanks for many pleasant and instructive days spent in England, Scotland, and "Ireland, and in France/ Here also it is fitting that acknowledgment should be made of the unremitting courtesy shown to the members of the New Zealand delegation by the High Commissioner and his staff. The pressmen from the Dominion were invited te make themselves thoroughly at home in the commodious offices in the Strand, and every member of the staff with whom they were brought into contact did hi 3 utmost to assist the delegates in their quest for information or help. They formed the opinion, that the New Zealand offices in London are thoroughly well administered by a highly capable stafi, and it gives them great j pleasure to record this opinion. Many interviews took place with members of the Ministry and prominent officials, at which important questions were disi cussed. Space does not permit of more I than bare reference to these, but among them may be mentioned discussions with tho Right Hon. A. J. Balfour on the progress of the war and the policy of the future; with Dr. Addison, Minister of Reconstruction; with General Richardson on matters affecting the welfare of the New Zealand troops; with Lord D'Aubernon, the head of the Liquor Control Board; with the Right Hon. W. H. Long, Secretary of State for the Colonies; with Lord Milner, Secretary of State for War; and with the Right Hon. J. R, Clynes, the Food Controller. Of the tour in France and all its memorable associations of ruined towns and villages, of fertile lands rendered useless by thousands of great shell-holes and hundreds of miles of trenches scattered through the farming and pasturage lands, of shell-torn peasant homes, abandoned until the now accomplished arrival of happier days, words cannot give adequate description. The experiences of the delegates in their long motor journeys, covering as they did an aggregate of at least 1500 miles—at times not only within sight of heavy fighting between our own artillery and that of the enemy, but actually on battlefields from which a few hours previously the Germans had been driven by New Zealand troops— were such as will live in the memory. Those never-to-be-forgotten motor journeys from the old French chateau, where the members of the New Zealand delegation were so comfortably housed, to the extreme limits of safety at the various battlefronts, were made under the guidance and control of officers of the General Headquarters Staff, and to those officers — Captain Scott and Captain Townroe—the warmest thanks of the delegation are due for much courtesy received at their hands, and to Captain Townroe especially for a great deal of valuable and interesting information imparted during their journeyings through the devastated areas. The delegation returns to New Zealand satisfied that Lord Beaverbrook did a wise thing when he put before his colleagues in the Ministry the idea that nothing but benefit to the Empire could reault from the assembling of leading journalists and newspaper proprietors from all its Overseas Dominions in order that they might be able to judge for themselves, and tell the people of their respective lands, how nobly Britain has played her part in tho mighty struggle which is fast drawing to a close. .