GOVERNOR OF BENGAL

Timaru Herald, Volume CLV, Issue 22785, 8 January 1944, Page 5

GOVERNOR OF BENGAL

Interview With Pressmen

BARRAGE OF CRITICAL QUESTIONS

(Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, Jan. 6. The new Governor of Bengal, Mr R. G. Casey, who will go to Bengal within a lew days, met a large gathering of world pressmen and quietly faced a barrage of critical questions from representatives of Indian and American Negro newspapers. Replying to one coloured newspaperman who suggested that Australia had harshly applied the colour bar, Mr Casey said that he was not going to Bengal as the representative of the Australian Government, therefore it was not necessary for him to explain or answer the implications of the White Australia policy. Mr Casey refused to discuss the question: “In India's position, how would Australia take the appointment of an Indian as Governor of an Australian State?” Mr Casey said the question was too hypothetical for a useful debate.

■ Mr Casey said he thought the appointment of Ministers at large on the lines of the Minister of State in the Middle East would be valuable in peacetime for a country like Australia. Accredited to a number of Governments tn the Middle East. South America and other large areas, they would obtain valuable Information For Australia from other countries facing similar problems.