MR W. J. JORDAN

Grey River Argus, 26 August 1946, Page 5

MR W. J. JORDAN

On Paris Conference RUSSIAN TACTICS CONDEMNED (N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent) LONDON, August 17. ; That the New Zealand delegate (Mr. W. J. Jordan), in declaring that he was tired of “quack, quack, quack” at the Peace Conference and Russian objections to France voting on the Rumanian commission, was expressing the views of other delegations can be inferred from the comment of the The Times special correspondent. He reported that most of the delegates were surprised and irritated at M. Vyshinsky’s intervention. They had thought everything had been settled in the conference rules of procedure and the ruling seemed to ensure France’s position, although voting was not specifically mentioned. “'Certain countries were elected members of the committee,” said Mr. Jordan, commenting on his remarks in Paris. “New Zealand was’ one and when you meet under those circumstances the first job is to elect a chairman. As soon as we got in the building the Russians started to hold forth about the presence of France on the committee. They reckoned France should not be there. But a committee cannot expel one of its members after it has been established. “We could not get on with the election of a chairman and Mr. Vyshinsky kept on talking, although it was the general opinion he was out of order. That caused a little rumpus which I was delighted to be in.” Mr. Jordan, commenting on the conference as a whole, said: “It is a tragedy. We have been there three weeks and we have done nothing except elect a chairman and appoint committees. The delegations run into hundreds yet they keep hanging about while a lot of aimless talking goes' on.

“If we were getting anywhere it would not be so bad, but we are not. The whole procedure is a slow and cumbersome business with every speech made three times —in.English, French and Russian. When Signor de Gasperi made his address in Italian we had the whole thing four times/* Mr. Jordan’s outspoken comments’ to M. Vyshinsky caused interest in London, and the Daily Telegraph’s columnist, Peterborough, remarking that the Australian and New Zealand delegations have been earning golden opinions in Paris, says Mr. Jordan is even more outspoken than Dr. H. . Reuter’s Paris correspondent ie ports’ that the sharp, otitspoken pio test by Mr. Jordan has had its eff —work on the Italian draft to be speeded up. All amendments challenging the Big Four draft dec - sion on Trieste now have to be sud Sea to the Italian political committee by next Tuesday. hi „ Dart Peterborough recalls the big part Mr. Jordan played in the League of Nations Assembly, in Geneva, when no man could have been more direct. Mr Jordan could not see why Abyssinia should be expelled from the T pa vile and won his way. ‘‘Ever since then Mr. Jordan has been something of a hero with the small nations,” adds Peterborough. -He has always spoken his own mind. He is as blunt to-day as he was when ho became a London policeman many vears ago. This bluntness, however, goes with a soft voice and marked

gentleness of manner. He hunts out people who come to London from all parts of the English-speaking world and he is a great favourite with members of the Royal Empire Society.”