MR FRASER IN CAIRO

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 19 May 1941, Page 4

MR FRASER IN CAIRO

AIR JOURNEY FROM NEW ZEALAND VISIT TO SINGAPORE I iN.Z.E.F. Official News Service). j Cairo, May 17. i ] The New eZaland Prime Minister, Mr | Fraser, landed in the Egyptian capital 1 this afternoon in a Royal Air Force 1 j machine. Admiration for the magnificent stand by the New Zealand Expeditionary i Force in Greece was expressed to Mr j : Fraser by General Wavell, who called j on Mr Fraser shortly after his arrival. This admiration is shared by all in the Middle East, ahd everybody whom Mr Fraser has met voiced praise and appreciation for the deeds of valour and courage performed by the New Zealanders. Maori and pakeha This morning Mr Fraser called on Sir Ahmed Hassanein Pasha, chamberlf.in to King Farouk at Abdin Palace. Mr Fx-aser landed at Cairo on a j cool, sunny afternoon which followed ' one of the city’s worst heat waves, in which the thermometer touched 120 deg. Fahrenheit in the shade. He was met by the British Ambassador. Sir Miles ! Lampson, Air Vice-Marshal A. W. Tedder, second in command to Marshal I.ongmore, Brigadier N. S. Falla. Colonel W. G. Stevens, officer in charge of administration, N.Z.E.F., Colonel Conway, Adjutant-General, N.Z.E.F., and Colonel F. Waite. New Zealand Notional Patriotic Fund Commissioner. Spending several days in the world's hottest regions did not appear to have sapped his vitality, and Mr Fraser was fit and well. After shaking hands with Sir Miles Lampson and before meeting the other members of the reception committee, Mr Fraser shook hands with the crew of the plane. He is staying at the British Embassy on the banks of the Nile, as the guest of Sir Miles and Lady Lampson. A full programme has been mapped out, and Mr Fraser is having a busy time. In order to see as much as possible of the New Zealand troops, he will visit nearly every camp, hospital, convalescent depot, and club at which New Zealanders are likely to be found. TRIP FROM NEW ZEALAND Leaving Auckland on 3rd May in a Tasman Airways flying-boat, Mr Fraser was farewelled by a small group, which included the Mayor of Auckland, Sir Ernest Davis, Mr Richards, M.P., Mrs Fraser, and Mrs Berendsen and Mrs Jeffery, the wives of the members of his staff who accompany him. The Acting-Prime Minister of Australia, Mr Fadden, the deputy-leader of the Commonwealth Labour Party, Mr Forde, representing the Opposition Leader, Mr Curtin, Sir H. Manion, representing the New South Wales State Government, and Messrs Taylor and Malcolmson, New Zealand Government trade representatives in Australia, met Mr Fraser on his arrival at Rose Bay, Sydney. Mr Fraser attended a meeting of Australia’s War Cabinet in Sydney 1 and participated in important discussions. He also had an interchange of ’ views on munitions supply, shipping ' overseas and inter-Dominion trade ■ with Sir Earle Page and Senator Mc--5 BrTde. At an official luncheon he met Mr Spender, Senator Foil, Sir Frederick Stewart, Dr. Evatt. and Mr 1 Beasley (members of the War Council), ■ and the Queensland Premier, Mr For- - gan Smith. On 6th May Mr Forgan Smith flew to Brisbane with Mr Fraser in a Qantas Empire Airways flying-boat. At Darwin Mr Fraser was met by the Administrator, Mr L. Abbott, with whom he ! inspected the defences. “I was deeply [ irr pressed by the strengthening of Dar- | win’s defences since my last visit in December, 1939,” Mr Fraser told a war j correspondent. ' At Sourabaya, Mr Fraser met the Dutch Ministers, Messrs Van Kleffens and Welter, and had a long discussion with them. After flying by land plane . to Batavia he was the guest of the j Governor-General of the Netherlands East Indies. The British Commander-in-Chief in ’ the Far East, Air Chief Marshal Sir I Robert Brooke Popham, was Mr Fraser’s host at Singapore, where the , Prime Minister was mostly occupied ’ j with the inspection of the naval base. , j flying fields, and land defences, that , make Singapore Britain’s mam Pacific bulwark. Mr Fraser discussed defence | ) with Sir Robert and with Admiral j Layton. In Bangkok, the ancient Thai | capital. Mr Fraser stayed a night with : the British Minister, Sir Josiah Crosby, j He was a guest at Government House | in Calcutta. PLANE SHELLED j Mr F. R. Picot, New Zealand repre- ‘ | sentative on the Eastern Group Supply ! | Council, met Mr Fraser at Calcutta, j and accompanied him to Gwalior. Pro- | i blems of supply and other matters con- • ceming the war effort in the Far East- , ern and south Pacific zones were discussed while Mr Fraser was at Karachi, where he was entertained by the Governor of Sind, Sir Hugh Dow. Mr Fraser was advised from London that in view of the Iraq situation, it would be advisable to proceed to Cairo by the Bombay and Aden sea route, and arrangements had been made accordingly, but because of his anxiety to see the New Zealand soldiers in the Middle East, and ascertain for himself at the earliest possible moment the definite casualties in the Greek campaign, he decided to adhere to the previous itinerary arranged. Through the co-operation of the Viceroy of India, Lord Linlithgow, Sir Miles Lampson and the Middle East Company. he travelled by flying-bout to Basra, the Iraqi port on the Persian Gulf, only just captured by the British from the insurgents. Shortly after leaving Basra, the I R.A.F. plane by which he was travelI ling was ineffectively shelled by antiaircraft fire from a small section of the insurgent forces of Raschild Ali.