NOT WITHHELD

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 119, 22 May 1941, Page 11

NOT WITHHELD

NEWS OF N.Z. FORCES

MINISTER'S ASSURANCE

REQUEST TO G.O.C.

The impression is still held by some people that notification of casualties is being withheld by Base Records in Wellington. An assurance that this is not so and that not a moment would be lost in giving the public any report that comes, good or bad, has been given by the Minister of Defence (Mr. F. Jones).

The anxiety of the Arawa tribe and the Maori people generally caused by lack of definite news was expressed in a telegram sent by Mr. Tai Mitchell, chairman of the Arawa Trust Board, to the Minister. The desire for news to relieve the concern of parents of soldiers overseas was also expressed in a telegram sent by Mr. W. E. Barnard, M.P., to the Minister. "I find numerous parents deeply concerned over absence of news of soldier sons abroad," stated Mr. Barnard. "While appreciating the problem of identification and the desire to furnish accurate information, I suggest that, where necessary, early advice to parents that their son has not yet been accounted for would lessen the immediate anxiety and make more tolerable the period of awaiting definite news. I am assured that such a step would be welcomed by those concerned." NEWS FROM THE FRONT. In his reply to the request on behalf of the Maori people, the Minister stated that the Acting Prime Minister had cabled the General Officer Commanding the Expeditionary Force requesting that dispatch of news be expedited if possible to allay the concern of the Maori people. There would be not a moment's delay in giving the public any report. In every case official advice would be forwarded immedilately to the next-of-kin before publication, and no credence should be given to rumours.

May I take this opportunity, the Minister concluded, of expressing to the Maori people of your tribe, and of all tribes from which the battalion , is drawn, the pride which the Gov-

ernment feels, and the .people of New Zealand feel, in the achievements of the Maori soldiers in Greece. We have, I am sure, heard but small part of the story of their heroism. They have undoubtedly upheld the brave traditions of a brave race.