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Items and opinions of current interest in New Zealand are summarized briefly by cable to the major posts and more fully in a weekly newsletter for the information of all New Zealand offices overseas ; this latter service is also extended to other New Zealanders abroad. The Department regularly supplies the libraries at the posts with New Zealand books and periodicals for reference and lending purposes. With the aid of these libraries and of special articles prepared by the Information Section, posts are usually able to answer immediately the many and varied inquiries they receive. A steadily increasing demand for information from educational institutions, as well as from the general public overseas, has been met by the distribution of as many publications as can be provided. The posts also receive visual material produced by the National Film Unit and the National Publicity Studios. A lending library of films and film strips is maintained at each post; maps and posters have been distributed to schools and libraries. Photographs are made available to newspapers and other publications, and much material has been supplied for exhibitions, particularly at New Zealand House in London. The Department's publications, including reports of New Zealand delegations to international conferences, treaties to which New Zealand is a party, and other international documents of interest to New Zealand, are widely distributed, both in this country and overseas, to universities, schools, libraries, and the general public. Appendix IV lists the publications of the Department which have been printed during the year. 4. External Affairs Committee During the parliamentary session the Department's services were available to the Select Committee on External Affairs appointed by the House of Representatives on 8 July, 1949. As in previous years, by arrangement with the Legislative Department, the Committee's Secretariat was provided by the Department of External Affairs, which is responsible for furnishing documentary material required by the Committee. Under this arrangement members of the Committee were supplied with regular surveys of current events produced by New Zealand missions overseas, information papers on current international questions written by the Secretariat, and papers on individual subjects prepared at the request of the Committee.