DOMINION ENVOYS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25303, 13 August 1943, Page 4

DOMINION ENVOYS

VISIT TO WAR-TIME BRITAIN “GREATEST COUNTRY IN WORLD” (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Aug. 12. The two New Zealand delegates to the conference of the Empire Parliamentary Association ir. Ottawa, Mr W P Endean, M.P. for Remuera, and Mr L. G. Lowry, M.P. for Otaki, returned to Auckland to-day after an absence from the Dominion of about four months and a-half. In that time they have travelled more than 40,000 miles, and have visited Great Britain. Canada, the United States, and AusU On the way to Britain they crossed the Atlantic by bomber, and for the return crossing they travelled in the largest liner ever built. Unity of Home Front “ We spent a month in Great Britain making a close examination of her war effort,” said Mr Endean and Mr Lowry in a joint statement. “We ‘inspected various factories producing war material, and visited coastal defences. naval bases, civil defence establishments, and fighter and bomber squadrons, where we were privileged to see some of our own men. We had the great pleasure of visiting Buckingham Palace and meeting the King and Queen and the Princesses. “While in London we were privileged to interview various Ministers and heads of departments and engaged in informal discussions. We also attended a meeting of the Westminster branch of the Empire Parliamentary Association. We spent a full morning on the Clyde, and were amazed by the numbers and types of ships being built. We saw a country whose agricultural production has been increased by 70 per cent, since the war started, where every man and woman seems to be in the armed forces or in war production and civil defence, where the people, although rationed, are filled with tremendous energy and purpose, where women work alongside men with equal ability and where the whole of the nation is definitely behind Mr Churchill in the prosecution of the war. “ From the time you set foot on Britain until you leave again,” said Mr Endean, “you cannot escape the feeling that here is the greatest country in the world. The war effort is unbelievable. It dwarfs everything you expect to find. You cannot compare anything with it. “It gives you a wonderful pride to belong to the same race,” Mr Endean added. “ and it makes you feel proud, too, to find that in the middle of all their own striving for victory the British people give New Zealand wonderful praise for what it has done. New Zealand’s name has never been higher than it is now.” Great Activity in Canada In Canada, where Mr Endean and Mr Lowry went after leaving Britain, they were given an opportunity of inspecting numerous factories producing war materials, and they said they were surprised at the extent of Canada’s activities At the conference of the Empire Parliamentary Association in Ottawa, attended by representatives from the United Kingdom. Canada, Australia. New Zealand, and Bermuda, the topics discussed included war and post-war policy and civil aviation. On June 28 the conference was joined by members of the United States Senate and House of Representatives.