MR FRASER AT CAIRO

Southland Times, Issue 24438, 19 May 1941, Page 6

MR FRASER AT CAIRO

JOURNEY MADE BY AIR PLANE FIRED AT OVER IRAQ (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service) CAIRO, May 17. The New Zealand Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. P. Fraser, landed at the Egyptian capital this afternoon in a Royal Air Force machine. Admiration for the magnificent stand by the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in Greece was expressed to Mr Fraser by General Sir Archibald Wavell, who called on Mr Fraser shortly after his arrival. The admiration is shared by all in the Middle East and 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, Chamberlain to King Farouk, at Abdin Palace.

Mr Fraser landed at Cairo on a cool sunny afternoon which followed one of the city’s worst heat waves in which the thermometer touched 120 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade. He was met by the British Ambassador, Sir Miles Lampson, Air Vice-Marshal A. W. Tedder, second in command to Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur Longmore, Brigadier N. S. Falla, Colonel W. G. Stevens, officer in charge of the administration of the N.Z.E.F., Colonel A. E. Conway, Adjutant-General, N.Z.E.F., and Colonel F. Waite, New Zealand National Patriotic Fund Commissioner. FULL PROGRAMME ARRANGED • 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. Leaving Auckland on May 3 in a Tasman Airways flying-boat, Mr Fraser was bidden farewell by a small group which included the Mayor of Auckland, Sir Ernest Davis, Mr A. S. Richards, M.P., Mrs Fraser, Mrs C. A. Berendsen and Mrs C. A. Jeffery. The acting Prime Minister of Australia, Mr A. W. Fadden, the deputy Leader of the Commonwealth Labour Party, Mr F. M. Forde, representing the Opposition, the Leader, Mr J. Curtin, Sir Henry Manning, representing the New South Wales State Government, and Messrs W. Taylor and J. A. Malcolm, New Zealand Government trade representatives in Australia, met Mi' Fraser on arrival at Rose Bay, Sydney. Mr Fraser attended a meeting of Australia’s War Cabinet in Sydney and participated in important discussions. He also had an interchange of views on munitions supply, shipping and overseas and inter-Dominion trade with Sir Earle Page and Senator P. A. M. Mcßride. At an official luncheon he met Mr P. C. Spender, Senator H. S. Foil, Sir Frederick Stewart, Dr H. C. Evatt and Mr J. A. Beasley (members of the War Cabinet) and Mr W. Forgan Smith, Premier of Queensland. On May 6 Mr Forgan Smith flew to Brisbane with Mr Fraser in a Qantas Empire Airways flying-boat. DARWIN DEFENCES At Darwin Mr Fraser was met by the Administrator, Mr L. Abbott, with whom he inspected the defences. “I was deeply impressed by the strengthening of Darwin’s defences since my last visit in December 1939,” Mr Fraser told the war correspondent. At Sourabaya Mr Fraser met Dr E. Van Kieffens, the Dutch Foreign Minister, and M. Charles Welter, Colonial Minister, and had a long discussion with them. After flying by land plane to Batavia, he was the guest of the Governor-General of the Netherlands East Indies, Jonkheer Dr A. W. L. Tjarda Van Starkenborch Stachouwer. Air Chief Marshal Six’ Robert BrookePopham, Commander-in-Chief in the Far East, was Mr Fraser’s host at Singapore, where the Prime Minister was mostly occupied with an inspection of the naval base, flying fields and land defences that make Singapore Britain’s main Pacific bulwark. Mr Fraser discussed defence with Sir Robert and with Admiral Sir Geoffrey Layton. In Bangkok, the ancient Thai capital, Mr Fraser stayed a night with the British Minister, Sir Josiah Crosby. He was a guest at Government House, Calcutta. Mr F. R. Picot, the New Zealand representative on the Eastern Group Supply Council, met Mr Fraser at Calcutta and accompanied him to Gwalior. Problems of supply and other matters concerning the war effort in the Far Eastern and South Pacific zones were discussed while Mr Fraser was at Karachi, where he was entertained by the Governor of Sind, Sir Hugh Dow. REBELS FIRE ON PLANE 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 owing to his anxiety to see New Zealand soldiers in the Middle East and ascertain for himself at the earliest possible moment the definite casualty figures in the Greek campaign, he decided to adhere to the previous itinerary arranged. Through the cooperation of the Viceroy of India, Lord Linlithgow, Sir Miles Lampson and the Middle East Command, he travelled by flying-boat to Basra, the Iraqi port on the Persian Gulf, which was only just captured by the British from the insurgents. Shortly after leaving Basra the Royal Air Force plane by which he was travelling was ineffectively shelled by antiaircraft fire from a small section of the insurgent forces of Rashid Ali. Mr Fraser is accompanied by members of his own staff, Mr Berendsen and Mr Jeffery.