WILL N.Z. KEEP MINISTER AT MOSCOW?

Grey River Argus, 22 September 1948, Page 5

WILL N.Z. KEEP MINISTER AT MOSCOW?

Return for Outlay ■ is Questioned P.A. WELLINGTON, Sept. 21. Urgency was accorded tne passing of a number of classes of Estimates when the House ot Representatives met to-aay.

Mr. R. M. Algie (Nat. Remuera), spoke on the vote ot £31,513 for the Moscow negation, which is included in the External Affairs Department vote. If it was, as a national matter, still necessary to maintain the Moscow Legation, ne asked, could it not be placed on the same status as that ot the Russian Legation in Wellington, ana could the • Minister, Mr. Boswell, be better employed somewhere else ? The expenditure on the Moscow Legation, he said, was not justilied by me results achieved.

Rt. Hon. P. Fraser said that certain of the suggestions that were made by the Member lor Remuera were coincidental with his own thoughts. But, at the same time, he consiaered that the establishment of the Moscow Legation was completely justified. When he went to tne United Kingdom, he would discuss the question ot whether New Zealand should be represented in Moscow by a Minister or by a Charge d’ Affaires, and also whether New Zealand should have a representative in Western Europe. Mr. T. C. Webb (Nat., Rodney) said the time had arrived when the Moscow Legation could be closed down without causing any misunderstandings. There was no point in keeping the Legation going if no benefit was to be obtained from it.

Hon. W. E. Parry said that we should not rush blindly into closing the Legation, and no member should place in the way of the Prime Minister any impediment at all so far as that matter was concerned. N.Z. MINISTER AT PARIS ?

Mr. F. Doidge (Nat., Tauranga), said that when Mr. Boswell was in New Zealand on furlough, the External Affairs Committee of the House had met him. Mr. Boswell was asked if he thought there was a justification for sending him back to Russia. He replied that it was for the Government to say. Mr. Doidge claimed that none of the information that had been given the Committee by Mr. Boswell had justified the expenditure on the Legation in Moscow. Perhaps, he said, the Prime Minister, in view of events in Western Europe, would now be prepared to consider appointing a new Minister in Paris. If that were done we should be represented there by a Minister of Sir Carl Berendsen’s calibre. It would not be satisfactory simply to transfer Mr. Boswell from Moscow to ParisMr. A. C. Baxter (Govt., Raglan), said that Mr. - Doidge suffered from russophobia of the type which could lead to war. The expenditure on the

Moscow Legation was worth while if it contributed in any small degree to peace. Mr. W. H. Fortune (Nat., Eden) said that we should do nothing which suggested- appeasement. He said that, it even a small Legation such as New Zealand’s was closed, it might show that we had “had it” in regard to the treatment meted out to Western nations by our erstwhile Russian allies. NO APPEASEMENT.

Mr. Fraser said that there was no shred of appeasement about the policies of Britain, the United States and France, and that went for New Zealand too. There had been, throughout the recent weeks of critical negotiations, the greatest desire for agreement, and the representatives ol the Western Powers had gone to great lengths to reach agreement. But there had not been, nor would there be at any future time, anything like Munich or the immediate post-Munich period before the Second World War.

“There has been a quite determined insistence on the rights of the Western Powers, it looked, in Moscow, a fortnight ago, as if matters had been adjusted,”

said Mr. Fraser. -“Then, in sbme extraordinary way, what was agreed to in Moscow has been blocked in Berlin. It is most confusing. No wonder the Western Allies have been non-piussed." “‘I can assure the House and the country that, in an tne negotiations between the three Western Powers and Russia, there has been no trace oi appeasement. There has been a iirm, but not a belligerent, or aggressive, insistence on the Treaty rights of the Western Powers. Nothing could have been fairer than the attitude of the United Kingdom, the United States and France throughout these negotiations.” , , , Mr. Fraser added that members should not encourage any erroneous belief that there was any similarity between the recent weeks and the time of Munich. The future depended on the Western Powers maintaining their present firmness. Mr. Fraser said that it would be likely to hinder the establishment of better all-round international relationships. But the question of restricting our representation in Moscow to that of a Charge d’ Affaires could be considered Mr. Fraser said that he accepted the full responsibility for establishing the Moscow Legation when he did, at a time when all of the British Commonwealth was seeking better relations with Russia. Dr. A. M. Finlay (Govt., North

Shore), said that the Moscow Legation provided a valuable listening point behind what the Opposition called the Iron Curtain.