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or aviation or agriculture ; in addition, New Zealand gains more, because the officer who returns has a better idea of the implications for this country of the discussions and is well placed to apply his experience. For a member of the staff of a New Zealand post to attend a technical conference is often less satisfactory, however good his report might be. Nevertheless, considerable apparent economies have resulted from using the staff of overseas posts in this way (as can readily be seen from Appendix 2), and the practice will necessarily continue. The introduction to the section on New Zealand's representation overseas mentions this subject from the point of view of the welfare and efficiency of the posts and their staffs. The section on the United Nations, moreover, notes that New Zealand has done what she can to reduce the number of international conferences; this, however, is not always an easy position to take because increasing international co-operation, which is to be encouraged, is normally reflected in more conferences and international bodies. New Zealand has, moreover, declined to attend many conferences or to be represented on many international organizations and committees, or to encourage her representatives to take high offices at international conferences when to do so would be to reduce the effective strength of the invariably small delegations. Among the factors weighed before any invitation is accepted are the contribution New Zealand can make, the possible value to this country, and the effect on administration in New Zealand of detaching an officer for the purpose. It should be noted that the travel fares of delegates to the General Assembly and certain other organs of the United Nations are paid by the United Nations. 3. Information and Publicity The Department ensures that New Zealand's representatives abroad are adequately informed of the Government's actions or expressed opinions upon questions of external affairs, and also that they receive newspaper clippings on all important questions, a regular factual record of events, and background articles on happenings in New Zealand. The individual accounts of the work of the overseas posts, contained later in this report, note the way they are working to spread information about New Zealand. In co-operation with the Prime Minister's Information Section (and hence with the National Film Unit and the National Publicity Studios), the Department attempts to supply the ever-increasing demand from the posts for films, photographs, film strips, posters, and displays. The material must be varied enough to attract and give appropriate information to tourists and potential emigrants, and to answer the inquiries of