EXPERT'S NATIONALITY

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23718, 26 July 1940, Page 6

EXPERT'S NATIONALITY

MISFORTUNE OP WAR "WORRIED ABOUT FAMILY" ONLY HALF REPORT RECEIVED [Bl* TELEGRAPH—SPECIAL REPORTER] "WELLINGTON, Thursday "I am afraid that industry will have to stand over until happier times," said the Minister of Industries and Commerce, the Hon. D. G. Sullivan, when replying in the House of Representative to-day to questions about an amount of £BSO on the Estimates as final payment to a sugar beet expert who came to the Dominion to report on the possibility of establishing the industry. The question was first raised by Mr. S. G. Holland (Opposition—Christchurch North), who asked when the repqrt would be available and also sought information about the possibilities of the industry. "I don't suppose the Government ever received the report," said Mr. H. S. S. Kyle (Opposition—Riccarton), "because the gentleman who came out here was practically on parole all the time he was here. In fact, it was discovered before he arrived that he was not the gentleman who should have been sent here, because he was of the wrong nationality." The Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser: That is not fair. He was a Czecho-Slovakian, and unfortunately his country was at war with us at the time he arrived.

Mr. Kyle: I understand he took up a pretty strong attitude when he came here.

Mr. Fraser: He was very worried about the safety of his family. Mr. Sullivan said the man who had been brought to New Zealand had been 14 years in Ireland, where he had developed the sugar beet industry. His work in the Dominion had unfortunately been cut short, but half of the report had been received. The other half was not available.