THE HIGH COMMISSIONER.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20964, 1 March 1930, Page 23

THE HIGH COMMISSIONER.

NEW ZEALAND ASSOCIATION WELCOME. EARL JELLICOE ON NAVAL DEFENCE. MR T. M. MHLFORD’S MISSION. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, January 10. Thanks to the existence of tile New Zealand Association, New Zealanders in London are now well organised. Apart from his popularity as a man, Mr T. M. Wilford, the new High Commissioner, juis tlig association to thank partly for his flattering reception. To-day the lunch of welcome was held at the Savoy Hotel, when there wore 105 guests present, a record for a New Zealand Association luncheon. ' It was particularly fortunate that Lord Jellicoe was able to take tbe chair. He is just put of the doctor’s hands. On his right were the guest of honour and Vice-admiral Sir William ML Fisher, K.C.8., CA'.O., Sir Atul Chatterjee, Lord Camrose, Major-general Sir Fabian M 7 arc, Commander A. ML S. Agar, V.C., and Mr S. G. Salients. On the 'chair-, man’s left were Lord Bledisloe, Lord Strathspey, Sir Harry Batterbee, Lieu-tenant-general Sir William Furse, Sir Benjamin Morgan, Mr John Macmillan, and Sir Halford Mackinder.

Lord Jellicoe, proposing “ Our Guest,” said that the attendance was a record for a. New Zealand luncheon. That in itself was a great tribute to the personality of the chief guest, and no doubt New Zealanders present were thinking of Mrs Wilford as well. They had only.recentlv said good-bye to Sir James Parr, and in that connection it seemed to him that the tenure of office of the High Commissioner was far too short. They had no sooner developed an affectionate esteem for one High Commissioner than thev had to transfer their affection to another. He could not but think it would be in the interests of the High Commissioner lumself if the tenure of appointment were lengthened. This he felt was the time that such a suggestion should be made. The office of High Commissioner was one of exceeding importance. In the first place, he was the ambassador for New Zealand. Secondly, he became a commercial traveller on a very larmi scale. As a commercial traveller he could giv e an immense amount of help loathe trade of the Dominion, “I have often suggested since I left New Zealand,” said Lord Jellicoe, “ that it is a crime for anybody in this country to eat anything but New Zealand or Empire butter if they cannot get English butter It is a crime to eat other than ,-, ew ,.^ ea J a,ld la mh if they cannot get English lamb. The same thing applies to apples, cheese, and other produce. Another portion of the Hmh Comnussioner’s time is spent at the League 0 . Nations. I feel sure that high commissioners often wish the League of Nations would fizzle out. I do know it takes up a great deal of time. Although there ls a very good golf course at Geneva tins hardly makes up for the long hours spent in the very uncomfortable rooms which house the League.” NAVAL CONFERENCE. Mr Wilford had arrived at a moment when great responsibilities would be thrust upon him. As delegates for New Zealand the Naval Conference, he knew Mr Wilford would have the courage of his opinions. So far as Great Britain was concerned the use and -security of our sea. communications were essential ™ W® , of the people of these islands and to their prosperity. I n consequence of the great export trade of New Zealand and the fact that New Zealand was *| of mOS f dlstant of the dominions, the safety of its people'depended upon the uuonVp f -r dc i and this fended S of our sea communica7’, He dldnoi eny y Mr Wilford his task during the next two or three or in'TJw Tt— I *!’ but lle felt sure that Zealam P nlßter ° f Defence the New Zealand Government would have a spokesman who would not be afraid to say what he thought. unl no tb I fTT dU n y n Vllicll - Would be «*row„ 1 ave S b? gh would ; a 'V to beeo “ e a kind of Thomas Cook K ' w Z ' al “ d of IC Jbk ord Je | hcoe ’ would give the people as r J f y gteat confidence in him as the chief representative of New Zealand. In other respects Mr Milford was a typical New Zealander. He was ?i reat sportsnlan. He was a footballer a fisherman largely responsible for' the popuJanty T of the early trout fishing at Rotorua. He was a golfer. He was not superstitious. He Invariably placed' his money on the thirteenth horse at rac meetings, and generally won. HELP AND NOT TO HINDER r i l / oUldbc a queer individual,” he said, were I not moved by this wonderful demonstration of kindly feelinevinced by you towards me as the rcprcTsentative of New Zealand in London 1 I thank our Chairman for all he has said about me.- But at these gatherings you nly hear the good—the rest you have to find out! The mission of New Zealand, represented by its High Commissioner in London, is to help and not to hinder. Realising . the difficulties, perplexing situations, and financial stringency, New Zealand desires to be counted as a partner, and not as a poor relation, and during my tenure as High Commissioner all my efforts will be devoted to assisting the Mother Country as far as possibly lies in my power. “ We have decided that for 12 months we shall mark time so far as migration is concerned. I say 'mark time 1 advisedly. M 7 e have not' bolted, locked and barred the door. M 7 e do not wish to have you believe that pur policy is to be permanent, but merely for' the time being. We arc marking time for economic reasons. To-day New Zealand is impressed with the huge unemployment problem Great Britain lias to face, and ne feel that while marking time in the question of migration, we can buy more British goods, thus enabling 'the manufacturers hero to employ 'more labour, and in this way assist.”

DEVELOPMENT OF NEM r LANDS. In connection with that matter, Parliament had passed unanimously without a division a vote of £5,000,000 for the development of second-class lands which up to the present had not had a great deal of attention paid to them. There would thus be made available area® of land for young men from this country who wished to take up land in the year's to come.’ They considered that there was room in New Zealand for many hundreds of thousands of small farmers they knew, New Zealand was the dairy farm of the British Empire, and 94 per cent, of the dairv export of the country came to Great Britain,

I hey had also tried to marry science with agriculture, with the result that land formerly considered waste land was no.w undericultivation. “ M'e arc looking forward to an increase in the standard of life in your country,” said the High Commissioner, “ so that yon will be able to cope with our increased production, and thus we may urge the ideal of New Zealand that the whole of our trade should lie kept inside the Empire, or to sum it up in a phrase, let ns keep the money in the family.”

Hr Wilford added a word for the British manufacturers of motor cars. As Minister of Justice, he bad recently been instrumental in providing the police force with British cars. The now Com-

missioners ear—a new model British car of six cylinders—he had personally tried out and had negotiated Mangaroa mountain “on top ” without changing soar. If the British manufacturers would keep to that standard they would ba able to get a share of the millions of pounds wor Hi of trade at present going to another country. “ Zealand is honoured,” continued Mr Milford, “in being allowed to take part in the coining Naval Conference, and perhaps the local knowledge of the Pacific (the waters of which wash the shores of lands carrying half the population of the world) may be of use in the important deliberations for the foundations of the peace of the world which are shortly to be undertaken.

AX ASSOCIATION FOR WOMEN. _ Referring to the New Zealand Association, tbe High Commissioner said: “ Although this association is a medium of expression for men of New Zealand resident in Great Britain, yet I think that, clearly and distinctly apart from this association, it might be Veil to establish an association of the women of New Zealand resident in Great .Britain, in order that they might take their very necessary part in affairs of Empire, in which we are all concerned.” _ This evening Mr s Milford expressed his great delight at the splendid reception accorded to him and Mrs Milford on his arrival, first at Southampton and then in Loudon. One of those who went on board at the port was Major T. M. Milkes, R.A.F., who happened to be staving in the Isle of Might. The High Commissioner was gratilied and surprised to find such a distinguished company at Waterloo. It was a great pleasure to him to make the acquaintance of Lord Bledisloe and again to meet Lord Jellicoe, and many old friends. The injury which Mr Wilford has suffered was caused through playing medicine ball, but it is hoped that he will soon overcome the disability which he at the moment feels.

On their departure from MLiterloo, Mr and Mrs Milford .went direct to Bailey’s Hotel, and Mr Milford came up to the Strand later in the afternoon. As evening approached he had to submit to the pleasant ordeal of being interviewed by representatives of Die principal London newspapers, to whom lie gave much good ' copy ” about up-to-date conditions in New Zealand.

Asked what was his attitude with regard to the coming Conference on naval matters which he presently will be attending on behalf of New Zealand, Mr Milford said:—

“ I have no statement to make with regard to the very important question of ratios about which there will no doubt be much discussion, but I do hope that one I’esult of this Disarmament. Conference will bo tlr.it some basic principles may be agreed upon, for by such agreement a substantial foundation for peace in the future will then have been well and truly laid. As the representative of New Zealand, I am, of course, much concerned with the question of a naval base at Singapore, which locality I recently visited during my tour to the Bhilippines, Japan, China, Java, and the Malay States.” REASON FOR MIGRATION HALT. “We have had to mark time with regard to migration for twelve months. This has been caused through economic conditions which are world-wide. In my last speech before leaving the Dominion T expressed the opinion that it was the duty of New Zealanders so to combine and purchase more British goods in order that manufacturers at Home would then have the opportunity of employing more men, and thus lessening the economic stress of Great Britain today.” Mr Wilford gave some very interesting details regarding the results of the use of fertilisers on the pumice lands at Houtu.

An interesting item imparted by the High Commissioner was that the father of the House of Commons in New Zealand was now Sir A. Ngata, of whom he spoke with the highest possible appreciation.

London journalists were also given the information that there were twelve hundred differences between Australia an 1 New Zealand, but those Jffcrences were merely the twelve hundred miles of sea that divided the one country from the other.

Taking up the point that people in Europe often confused New Zealand with Australia, Mr Milford thought it was due to the use of the word Australasia. He hoped that in the near future letters would not be addressed “ Wellington, New Zealand, Australia.”

The Pacific Ocean, said Mr Wilford, washes the shores of countries that contained about half the population of the world, and a Lot more ought to he done to make those countries more productive.

Very interesting details regarding the results of the use of fertilisers on the pumice lands at Hontu were given, Mr Milford rising the happy phrase, “ Science has become" married to agriculture in New Zealand,” Diis year 400,000 tons of fertiliser having been used throughout the Dominion. The crops and stock raised at the prison camp were remarkable.