DIPLOMATIC POST

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23573, 6 February 1940, Page 8

DIPLOMATIC POST

AUSTRALIAN MOVE DUTY IN WASHINGTON NEW ZEALAND INTERESTS STATE LUNCHEON HELD "When I am in Washington, although I will be the servant of m.v own Government and people, X can assure you that New Zealand will be always in my mind as being a sister-Dominion whose fundamental interests are. the same as our own," said the Rt. Hon. It. G. Casey, the first Australian Minister designate to Washington, at a semi-official State luncheon held in his honour at the Grand Hotel yesterday. The Minister of Supply, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, presided, as representative of the Prime Minister, Mr. Savage, and other New Zealand Ministers present were the Minister of Labour, the Hon. P. C. Webb, the Minister of Defence, the Hon. F. Jones, and the Minister of Lands, the Hon. F. Langstone. The guests included Senator the Hon. P. A. M. Mcßride, assistant Australian Minister of Commerce. Of his new appointment, Mr. Casey said he would be moving in a fresh sphere of public service, and one which he b°P e d would grow, and would be recruited for from those who had been in the active hurly-burly of public life. Australia for the first time was launching forth into the seas of international diplomacy. Pacific Relations "We believe we must leave no stone unturned to see that tho individual voices of the British Commonwealth are heard in the principal foreign capitals, he continued. "Against that background Australia is sending me abroad to initiate this departure." Tho exchange of Ministers between the two countries would mean that the United states and Australia had put out to each other a friendly hand across the Pacific, a gesture to assist in mutual understanding, Mr. Casey said. A great part of the world was at war, and the rest was in a state of acute nervous tension-. In these circumstances Australia believed it essential that there should be no misunderstanding between nations that could be friendly to each other. It was even more important that there should be no possibility of misunderstanding between English-speaking peoples. "My task is to create the best possible attitude of goodwill between the United States and ourselves," he added.

American Goodwill The close identity of Australian and New Zealand broad interests was . emphasised by Mr. Casey. He said that if good resulted from his appointment he thought New Zealand would share in it for he believed that many people looked on the Dominion as they did on the Commonwealth. His experience had been that there was a latent goodwill toward Australia and New Zealand among the people of the United States. Mr. Sullivan, after complimenting Mr. Casey upon his appointment, spoke of the value of close ties among English-speaking peoples in the South Pacific. He expressed the view that Mr. Casey's work would be to the mutual benefit of the United States ana the Commonwealth, and not without benefit to New Zealand and others m the South Pacific. Relations between Australia and J\ew Zealand were 100 per cent perfect as far as the minds of the people were concerned, he continued. The two countries, already bound together by the imperishable bonds of Anzac, were again fighting side by side for a common cause of freedom, a fact that would knit them even closer together. Exchange of Visits

A welcome was also extended to Mr. and Mrs. Mcßride. The deputy-mayor, Mr. J. A. C. Allum, on behalf of the Mayor of Auckland, Sir Ernest Davis, spoke briefly, and in reply Mr. Mcßride expressed pleasure at liis visit. He hoped the introduction of faster means of transport between Australia and New Zealand would result in more frequent exchanges of visits. Mr. Casey arrived at Auckland by the Monterey from Sydney yesterday morning and continued the voyage to America in the evening. He was greeted on arrival bv the Hon. P. Fraser, deputy-Prime Minister, with whom he travelled recentlv when they were delegates to the Empire conference in London. After a brief talk Mr. Fraser bade Mr. Casey bon voyage and wished him success in his new appointment.