HELP IN DEFENCE AND FOOD

Chronicle (Levin), 6 October 1947, Page 8

HELP IN DEFENCE AND FOOD

— "W ■ Pre$s Assppiatipn)

(Per

, AUCKLAND, Oct. 5. Explaining thaj; both New.ZeaJand and Australia had exprerfsed tlicir readiness tp do as' much as possible ia eontributing~ to Britain 's ixnperial defence conlmitments, the British Secretary of State for l£oreign Affairs (Viseount Acldison) said on.Saturday that details Would be the subject of friendly arrangement. The exaet nature of wliat they would do was a technieal question tp be examined by experts, he stated, and it was realised that New Zealand was a smaJl country that could not undertake great tasks. Viseount Addison said that during his New Zealand visit he had held ' ' very interesting' ' talks with the Government with the emphasis placed on the. eeonomic situation. The British Governnient was anxious for food production to be increased from Australia and New Zealand if it were possible. Quite apart from the question of supporting friends this enabled Britain to avoid payment in dollars. "We all realise that we are in these difficulties tpgether," he continued. "The Uhited Kingdpm is a kind of elearing house for the whole of the sterling area and every sterling country that Avants dollars draws on our resprves. We are anxious for our friends, to cut doAVn their d'ollar purchases to the greatest possible extent. In Britain everything Avas being done to conceutrate on increased, production for export to replace the ineans of overseas payment that had been lost during the war. The Government would be relucthnt to impose any more cuts on a long-suffer ing people who must be properly fed if work were to be done. People abroad did not perhaps' realise the tremendous elfort being made in the United Kingdom nor the great measure of success alreadv aelrieved. "We are ]>eing as helpful as we ean, " Viseount Addison remarlced when he was asked for the British Government 's attitude towards the d eparture • of emigrants from Britain to the Dominions. With its shortage of .mai) power Britain would l>e naturally re luctant to the pick of its skilled artisans lpaving the country, but a lonj" view was being taken and no diflficul ties were being raised. There were twfc limiting factors. Th.e hrst was the lack of shippjng which would . persist foi some time, and the other was the honsing shortage for newly arrived families in.the Bominion. People who did decide go to New Zealand on their own

initiative should lirst be sure of havirig somewhere to live. TKe lafc-k of a home could mean disappointment all rouncl. Viseount and Ladv Addi-son were the guests of the Auckland Labour Eepresentation Committee at a gathering in' the Labour elubrooms on Saturday . afternoon. They will leave tomorrow for Brisbane by flying-boat and are to return to Britain A'ia Singapore, Cevlon. Delhi and Karaehi.