MR JONES’S TOUR

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 March 1943, Page 4

MR JONES’S TOUR

VISITS TO NEW ZEALAND FIGHTING FORCES. (N.Z.E.F. Official News Service). CAIRO, March 16. “It is my intention to visit as many New Zealanders in the three services as possible,” said the New Zealand Minister of Defence, Mr Jones, on his arrival in Cairo. “The N.Z.E.F. holds a high place in the thoughts of the New Zealand Government and people, and their deeds have won universal fame.” The Minister, who came via the United States, has met many important people. He has established valuable contacts with high-ranking United States and British service chiefs. At Pearl Harbour he was the guest of Admiral Calhoun, and at Washington he was met by the New Zealand Minister to the United States, Mr Nash. Among others he met were the VicePresident of the United States, Mr Wallace, Mr Harry Hopkins, Lord Halifax, General Marshall, Sir John Dill, and Admiral King. He attended the British Mission Conference and sat on the left of Lord Halifax as a compliment to New Zealand’s war effort. Throughout the United States, Mr Jones said, there is genuine admiration and appreciation of New Zealand’s contribution to the Allied war efforts and real interest in the activities of the New Zealand fighting men. He paid a tribute to the valuable work of Mr Nash in Washington, which, he said, had enhanced New Zealand’s reputation in the eyes of the United Nations.