STAY INDEFINITE

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20080, 28 October 1939, Page 5

STAY INDEFINITE

MR. SAVAGE’S COMMENT

PORTFOLIOS ARRANGED (Special to the Herald.) WELLINGTON, this day. The Hon. P. Fraser who is representing New Zealand at the conference of Dominions Ministers with - the Home Government, has made a quick trip, utilising the Empire air service throughout. He left Auckland on October 13 in the Tasman flying boat Aotearoa. Two days later he and his party continued their journey by other air liners.

The duration of Mr’ Fraser’s stay in Britain is indefinite. “I told him before he left,” stated the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage, to the Herald correspondent, “that he should stay while there is a job to be done, if it took six weeks or six months. Personal Conferences “These personal conferences of representatives of Governments,” continued Mr. Savage, “give a better opportunity to deal with the biggest job they will ever be called upon to face. I think most people will agree right away that it does not matter how well one tries to do a job by discussing details through cablegrams, telegrams and letters, that it is not so well done as through personal touch. It is such a big job that misunderstanding could crop up with the best intentions in the world.

“So far as New Zealand is concerned, we made it plain, and I say again, that we are going the full distance with the British commonwealth, and we want to be sure that this is expressed in our actions right through.” The Prime Minister stated that the portfolios administered by Mr. Fraser have been temporarily allocated as follows:

Education: The Hon. H. G. R. Mason. Health and Mental Hospitals: The Hon. H. G. Armstrong, Marine and Inspection of Machinery: The Hon, W. Parry. Police: The Hon. P. C. Webb.