BRITISH MINISTER

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20623, 26 November 1941, Page 4

BRITISH MINISTER

TALKS WITH CABINET WAR EFFORT PRAISED (Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, this day. “I have been very much impressed by the enthusiasm everywhere for the Allied cause,” said Mr. Alfred Dull Cooper, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, when he returned to Auckland late last night, after conferring wdth the Government in continuation of his mission to the Far East. “My stay here has been so brief that I have been able to see little of the Dominion’s war effort, but what I have heard impresses me as very considerable,” he said. ‘‘l have been greatly touched by the welcome I have received from the large crowds here and in Wellington and Christchurch. I regret that I cannot stay longer and see more of the country and its people." Mr. Duff Cooper said he had found New Zealanders were keenly interested in how Britain was faring. Everywhere he had been plied with questions about conditions in Britain, and it was obvious that a large number of the people had friends or relatives there.

While unwilling to state whether his visit to New Zealand~would affect his report to the British Government on centralising authority jn the Far East, Mr. Duff Cooper said he had had full and complef/e discussions with the Cabinet and War Cabinet, and that he and the Government had been in full agreement.

The Minister, who was accompanied by Lady Diana Duff Cooper and Lieutenant - Colonel Robertson, a member of his staff, concluded one of the most rapid tours of the Dominion on record with a one-day car trip from Wellington, via Rotorua. The party left Wellington at 7 o’clock yesterday morning and reached Auckland after 10.30 o’clock at night. The visitors arrived only on Friday afternoon.

Mr. Duff Cooper expects to be back in Singapore within a few days.