PERMANENT BODY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20088, 7 November 1939, Page 5

PERMANENT BODY

EMPIRE SPECIALISTS i_ CONTACTS IN LONDON N.Z. PLANS INDEFINITE (Per Press Association.) WELLINGTON, this day. No action has so far been taken by Ihe New Zealand Government in connection with the proposal that specialists attached to British Ministerial delegations to London should remain there as members of a permanent organisation to deal with war problems. A London cablegram received yesterday stated that it was not proposed to create a permanent Ministerial body in London, but that specialists, including service officers and economic supply experts, who accompanied the Ministers lo London, would remain as part of an enlarged staff and would act in conjunction with the High Commissioners. »

New Zealand's official representative at the British commonwealth Ministerial discussions, the Hon. P. Fraser, was accompanied to London by the permanent head of the Prime Minister’s Department, Mr. C. A. Berendsen, and by the secretary of the organisation for national security, Colonel W. G. Stevens.

“No decision has been made." said the Minister of Finance, the Hon. W. Nash, when asked last evening if the proposal meant that either Mr. Berendsen or Colonel Stevens would be remaining in London after the conference of Ministers had finished.'