FRANCE AND NEW ZEALAND

Southland Times, Issue 25746, 9 August 1945, Page 9

FRANCE AND NEW ZEALAND

FRIENDLY RELATIONS (P.A.) WELILNGTON, August 8. “The friendly relations between France and New Zealand, which were firmly established during the Great War of 1914-18, have been strengthened during the struggle against Germany and Japan, in which New Zealanders and Frenchmen have fought side by side on battlefields all over the world and are, indeed, still engaged in fighting the last common enemy,” states a communique issued in Paris on the appointment of M. Armand Gazel as French Minister to New Zealand. “Over and above this the rallying .of the French possessions in the Pacific to the Free French movement in 1940 created conditions particularly favourable to the development of political relations between the two countries. The establishment of diplomatic relations between France and New Zealand, which follows closely upon the exchange of diplomatic representatives between France and Australia, is the culminating point in this satisfactory evolution. It marks an important step in the general development of the territories and peoples of the Pacific and at the same time strengthens the traditional ties between the French union and the British Commonwealth.”