NEW ZEALAND’S PART

Wairarapa Times-Age, 9 December 1941, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND’S PART

PARLIAMENT TO MEET NEXT WEEK UTILISATION OF LOCAL FORCES. SITTINGS OF WAR CABINET. (By Telegranh—Pre«s Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. An announcement that Parliament would be called together next week, probably on Thursday, December 18, was made by the Prime Minister, Mr Fraser, at the conclusion of a meeting of the War Cabinet just before midnight last night.

The meeting was attended by the Chief of' Staffs of the fighting forces. Mr Fraser said the meeting had been engaged on work arising from the war situation. The question of the most fective utilisation of our local forces was under consideration, and the part to be played by the Emergency Precautions Scheme and the Home Guard was Jjeing reviewed. The effect of the holiday season on war activities was being considered, and an announcement of the War Cabinet’s decisions in regard to these various matters would be made without delay, Mr Fraser said. Two meetings of the War Cabinet were held yesterday, one in the morning and another last night, following the return to Wellington in the late afternoon of the Prime Minister, who arrived at Parliament House at 5.45 p.m. after having travelled by special aeroplane from Gisborne to Rongotai. Mr Fraser was on the East Coast yesterday morning on his way to the Bay of Plenty to take part in the byelection there, but immediately he received news of the new developments in the Pacific he abandoned his proposed tour and returned to Wellington at once.

The Governor-General, Sir Cyril Newall, has also come to Wellington. Mr Hamilton, a member of the War Cabinet, who was in the South Island, also returned to Wellington by air. The Chief of the Air Staff, Air Commodore H. W. L. Saunders, and his successor in that office, Air Commodore R. V. Goddard, who were in Christchurch to make an inspection of South Island air stations, returned to Wellington immediately, and along with the heads of the other fighting services and the Government’s advisers on foreign affairs they attended last night’s meeting of the War Cabinet.

In the temporary absence of the

Prime Minister, the Minister of Finance, Mr Nash, presided at the morning meeting of the War Cabinet and at a meeting of the general Cabinet in the afternoon. The War Cabinet, which had been in session almost continuously over the weekend, began its meeting at 9 a.m. and sat till 1..20 p.m. At the conclusion of this meeting Mr Nash stated that conferences had been held with the heads of State departments concerned in taking necessary precautionary measures and with senior service officers in Wellington. Mr Nash also announced that the Gover-nor-General, who was now in residencein Christchurch, had postponed his engagements in the South Island and was returning to Wellington at once. Replying to an inquiry if any steps had been taken in connection with the Japanese Consulate, Mr Nash replied that the usual procedure had been adopted and a guard had been placed on the Consulate for protective purposes,