COMMON PROBLEMS

Waikato Times, Volume 195, Issue 22492, 30 October 1944, Page 4

COMMON PROBLEMS

IMER.DOMINION TALKS '

VISITORS FROM AUSTRALIA ! MAINTAINING WAR EFFORT Led by the Rt. Hon. F. M. Forde, deputy-Prime Minister and Minister for the Army, and Dr. H. V. Evatt, Minister of External Affairs, the Australian Government delegation to New Zealand arrived at Auckland from Sydney by flying-boat on Saturday. They will confer with New Zealand Government representatives in the first of the talks between the two countries arranged under the terms of the New Zealand-Australia agreement of last January, and they will be in the Dominion for about three weeks. Other members of the party are Mr A. V. Smith, secretary of the Department of Supply and Shipping, Mr F. R. Sinclair, secretary of the Army Department, Dr. R. J. Burton, Mr W. D. Forsyth, and Mr P. Hasluck, of the Commonwealth Department of External Affairs, and Mr K. C. Hardie, secretary to Mr Forde. The Australian delegation is accompanied by Mr J. G. Barclay, New Zealand High Commissioner in Australia, who will take part in the discussions in Wellington beginning tomorrow morning. Mrs Forde, Mrs Evatt and Mrs Barclay have accompanied their husbands. Welcome By Minister The delegation was met by the Minister of Labour, Mr Webb, and Mr J. W. Heenan, Under-Secretary for Internal Affairs, on behalf of the New Zealand Government. The Australian party left yesterday morning for Rotorua. Mr Barclay stayed in Auckland at the week-end and will travel to Wellington to-day. He said yesterday that during his six months’ stay in Australia he had found the Australian Government and people most helpful in every way. Broad issues of policy affecting the relations between New Zealand and Australia would be discussed at the conference in' Wellington, said Mr Forde. “The Japanese Empire will not be defeated easily, in spite of the great successes which have recently been achieved in the Philippines,” said Mr Forde. “There will be much hard fighting before victory is won, and we in Australia have prepared for a considerable period of war ahead. However, we have passed the stage in the Pacific where we are merely required to defend ourselves.” It was right that Australia and New Zealand, as two emits Of the Britisn Empire closely associated, should meet to plan for the future, not only for defence, but for the problems that the post-war period would bring. "Magnificent Co-operation” “I am very glad to be able to say that the Government and people of New Zealand have always given magnificent co-operation to Australia, and particularly during the war,” Mr Forde added. He paid a tribte to the valour and tenacity of New Zealand's fighting forces on their many battlefronts, and also to the people of New Zealand for their great effort on the home front. “We are required not only to feed and service our own forces in the Pacific, but the forces of our Allies as well, and to send considerable supplies of food to Great Britain,” said Mr Forde. “This has caused a great deal of hardship and Inconvenience at home, which the peoples of both nations have borne magnificently. The political and economic ties between New Zealand and Australia have been strengthened during the war, and I believe it is to our mutual advantage that we should continue to strengthen further these connections.” Australia was still maintaining its war effort at the maximum, and the Government was determined to maintain the fighting forces at the maximum operational strength of which the nation was capable. Until recently the Australian Army performed most of the land fighting in the South-west Pacific area, and in the future it would take part in campaigns of equal if not greater importance than any in which it had already participated. Mr Forde paid a tribute to the work of Mr Barclay, whom he described as a worthy successor to Mr C. A Berendsen, now in Washington, and as one of the most popular representatives in Canberra. Visit to Rotorua The visitors were welcomed at Rotorua by Chief Tuoro, Chief H. Taranaki, and Major H. R. Vercoe. During an interval presentations were made to the visiting Ministers and their wives by Mr Z. Mitchell and Misses R. Mitchell and R. Haupapa. In his reply Mr Forde paid a tribute to the beauty of the items which had been presented and said he and his party were filled with admiration for the Maori people. Dr. Evatt said that when he was Invited by the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, to visit New Zealand, he had made it a condition that he would have the opportunity of a return visit to Rotorua to hear the singing and see the dancing-of the Arawa people. He bespoke the continued interest of the children of the tribe in their traditional songs and games. .