GENEVA EXPENSES

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 110, 5 November 1937, Page 10

GENEVA EXPENSES

COMMENT IN HOUSE

"NEW ZEALAND ON THE

MAP"

MR. SAVAGE'S CLAIM

Tho increase in the item for the expenses of New Zealand representation at Geneva was commented upon by Opposition speakers when the Vote on the Estimates for the Prime Minister's Department was before the House of Representatives this morning. In reply, the Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage) claimed that. New Zealand was now on the map because of its seat on.the Council of the League of Nations and the expenditure was fully justified. Mr. S. G. Smith (National, New Plymouth) said that in former years when the present Government was in Opposition the House used to listen for hours to assertions that it was' unnecessary to send Ministers out of New Zealand. There was a High Commissioner in London and surely he could do all the work necessary at Geneva. . The Minister of Finance (the Hon. W. Nash): This item refers to the High Commissioner. Mr. Smith: Well, it is not very explicit. ■ . .. Mr Hargest (National, Awarua) said that he thought the importance of the League of Nations was greater today than ever before. He remembered that when Sir Thomas Wilford was High Commissioner the Vote was £1000, and he and others had drawn attention to the fact' that that seemed to be a lot of money for a gentleman who made one or two trips a year across the Channel. The present vote of £2500 was a big increase. While the money might be quite well spent, he thought that some watchful eye should be kept on the expenditure to see that it did not get out of .hand. " SEAT ON THE COUNCIL. "New Zealand is on the map today and it was not before we came into office," said the Prime Minister. "We are on the Council of the League of Nations. Our predecessors never tried to get there, and therefore they stayed out in the cold. We are there and the expenses are accordingly greater." Mr. Smith commented that the1 explanation given was unsatisfactory. His schoolmaster had told him that it was Abel Tasman who put New Zealand on thu map and that Captain Cook followed him. "To say that the Labour Party has put New Zealand on the map is a reflection on the soldiers who have left New Zealand and on our All Blacks and cricketers," he declared. "Let us have some explanation of the work that is going . on. The Prime Minister should take the opportunity of explaining what the High Commissioner is doing. .People from overseas come here and tell us more of what is going on at Geneva, not for publication, than we can get &om the Prime Minister and the officers of the High Commissioner's office who go to Geneva." ' ■-' "It may be due to the very late sitting last night that the Prime Minister's replies are unnecessarily brisk and brief," said Mr. Hargest. "We are only asking that the accounts be analysed." He did not think it was necessary for Mr. Jordan, to spend £2500 on,trips to Geneva. Even if it was, and he seriously doubted it, the ipppositioh had a rißht to question the expenditure. CRITICISM OF BRITAIN/ "We have our own views of the worth of various High Commissioners at Geneva," Mr. Hargest added. "I don't want to underestimate Mr. Jordan's work, but I, dp regret that some time ago 'he saw fit to criticise the British Government in regard to its attitude in the Mediterranean. We are very much dependent on the Motherland, and we are not getting value for our £2500 if our representative at Geneva makes unnecessary criticism in that way." ; -