Wide Variety of Subjects Discussed with Press

Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 205, 30 August 1943, Page 4

Wide Variety of Subjects Discussed with Press

(Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, Aug. 29. Mrs. Roosevelt arrived by train yesterday from Auckland at 10.15 a.m., accompanied by the Governor-General (Sir Cyril Newall) and the official party. Mrs. Roosevelt was met by the Prime Minister (Mr. Fraser) and members of the Cabinet, the Mayor (Mr. T. C. A. Hislop), and senior officers of the American forces in the Wellington area, and of the New Zealand Royal Navy, Army, and Air Force. She was briefly introduced to all these officials and left the station by car for Government House, where she is the GovernerGeneral’s guest. Displaying all her personal charm and keen insight into world problems and those facing her own country lor which she is renowned, Mrs. Roosevelt at a press conference at Government House freely answered questions put to her by newspapermen. Asked what was her impression of the morale of American troops she had come in contact with on her cross Pacific trip, Mrs. Roosevelt said in common with all Americans engaged in the war, they had not been anxious for war, but since there had been nothing else for it, they intended to sec it through. “They hope it will be seen through to an end where they can say with the rest of the peoples of the Unitea Nations what the future of the worla will be, ’ ’ she added. She had come across quite a lot oi American troops on her present journey and the President particularly wished that she should make contact with as many of them as possible. Although a large proportion had not seen any fighting of importance, their job in making supplies easier and safer was fully appreciated. At one or two of the islands at which the plane touched, Mrs. Roose velt was told she was the first woman Americans stationed there had seen for ten months. Mrs. Roosevelt emphasised that attention in the United Statea was focused primarily on winning the wai and thinking in terms of more and more production to that end. She learnt from her visit to Great Britain that there was a great difference between the outlook of people actually in the war zone and that of people who were safe. On ner return, she tried to point out that difference and to convince the people that there was a real necessity for then doing without things which they coula not see any reason they should do with out. On Mr. Churchill’s present visit to •America, said Mrs. Roosevelt, she haa seen him for two days and he lookea more buoyant than ever before. She put it down to the turning of the tide, although, she added by way of qualifica tion, it was appreciated that there was still a lot to be done. As evidence of the break in German morale, she said Mr. Churchill had quoted extracts from a number of uncensoreil letters taken from German prisoners in Tunisia. “He prepared us for them by saying they were terrible,’' she remarked. “But I noticed that he seemed to enjoy reading them!’’ In one of the letters a German mother writing to her son said the one important thing was to remain alive and she hoped that Africa would be another Stalingrad where the men of the German army went hungry, and if the recipient had done all he could he would surrender so that she could see him again. Every one of the letters that Mr. Churchill read were despondent in tone.

Mrs. Roosevelt was questioned on the subject of women workers in retaining some of the jobs usually carried out by men. and she replied that the solution would largely be found in the type of internr.ticnal economy adopted after the war. Equal pay for equal work had long been a burning question among the women of America and the general feeling was that where a woman was doing the same work as a man and iust as efficiently she should be entitled to the same remuneration.

To a question as to whether there was any prospect of the President visiting New Zealand some time, she replied with a smile that he would have loved to have accompanied her on the trip.