EMPIRE CO-OPERATION

Greymouth Evening Star, 13 January 1928, Page 7

EMPIRE CO-OPERATION

- REPORTED N.Z. APPOINTMENT. (Australian and N.Z. Cable Association.' LONDON. January 12. Discussions have been proceeding between Mr. Coates and the Foreign Office with a view to the appointment by the latter of a Liason Officer, to take up duty in New Zealand. It is now announced that Mr. P. B. B. Nichols has been selected. This appointment is the first practical outcome of the Imperial Conference’s recommendation for closer inter-Empire co-operation. The announcement here was delayed, because it was preferred that New Zealand should make it first, but the hands of Downing Street were forced by the unanticipated disclosure in London. The appointment is officially regarded as a precedent to most important developments in inter-imperial co-oper-ation. It is pointed out that the duties are analgous to Mr. Casey’s (Australia) with the difference that whereas Mr. Casey’s expenditure is defrayed by the Commonwealth, that of Mr. Nichols will be defrayed by Britain, notwithstanding the appointment was made at the request of Mr. Coates. Both the Foreign and Dominions Offices point, out that the position is not comparable with the contemplated appointment to Ottawa, which is a diplomatic! post. Mr. Nichols is 34, unmarried, and holder of the Military Cross. He has been associated with diplomatic work since 1920, and is at present second secretary at the Foreign Office. He will be attached to Mr. Coates’s office at Wellington.