VIETNAM TOUR ‘Few Chances’ To Gather Facts

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31085, 14 June 1966, Page 18

VIETNAM TOUR ‘Few Chances’ To Gather Facts

(New Zealand Press Association) AUCKLAND, June 13. The New Zealand members of Parliament who toured South Vietnam recently were given little opportunity to gather facts about the situation there, Dr. A. M. Finlay, one of the members of the party, said tonight.

Dr. Finlay told a public meeting at Henderson that the term “fact-finding tour” given to the visit was a misnomer. “We were given the opportunity to see all the things which would lead us to think that the situation there was well under control and that there was a stable government,” he said. “We did not speak to any ordinary Vietnamese person and we met, unfortunately, no Buddhists. We had several appointments but these never came off.” Dr. Finlay said he was not suggesting that the party was deliberately restricted. “It was Just that the circumsances of the trip and the manner in which it was organised did not permit us the freedom to really gather the sort of facts we might haveliked.” What he had seen, however, had reinforced his earlier belief that there was no military solution to the conflict and that New Zealand would be well advised to withdraw its troops immediately. New Zealand could best make a contribution to the

situation in Vietnam by strengthening its medical aid and assisting in the work of reconstructing and organising administration and relief in areas devastated by the war.