16th February, 1 ;39.
Afi&lnnt the baskf-round or tny necret letter of the
lath rebruary about the general defence feeling in Hew 'eolmad,
it ra*y be useful to set doom • few t iseiTim | out the forth-
cmlng ; efence confer*nce In particular*
S.     Tt wee, os yon may imagine, rather a blow for
Nip hftvlnr left London with the prospect of an eventual
conference here, primarily concerned with the   aclflc Air
Route, to fln i on arnmi that it hsd blosacmod into a full-
Orsee conference on ciefenoe In thlc ^art of the world, end,
as you will hawe realised, the Hew ::eal«cjd Government would
really lilte scwtfthinir In tho netw* of tm Imperial ei'ence
onfcrenoe, thouah I f*ar that the sail.. In this respect in
too   ccr"t * ry of   tater* (secret tele0Nn Wo. 17 of the
1st ;?*?bruaiy was not appreciate** hero*
3,     I think that the r>(srvlceo ;onui«ely want a
3>efenco conference, partly In order to hring pressure to bear
on the oovcmmorit, ocrtly In tho lioye of tHrootlof public
attention towards defence problem.      ithout, however, polng
ao far no to at tribute bad faith to the Hew Zealand Gov*ra lent,
I think that, when   Inletors firat put Turwer i th« oropoaai,
they lioped that it would be a useful piece of wlndow-drssslntfi
they hoped to convtnoa the wore voesl section of the
Opposition that they were ttfkizu: the initiative in ti:,nce
isaUere, and at the acne time they saw a chance of netting out
of the uonferenoe in a flood of genorftlltieo without either
compromising
/. B. BT£.-':l :i*yc>il| XQ,.$ u.V. 0.
x.   l.^ir l,\U;r; or o:> ; .it-lnr tfi-nasivea to
err>en(Uture or rwiey, which, la their opinion, would Ml
better si>ant on aociol expertraenta.    ?hare may by ntlll*
la the rainda of seme at l«Mt of the   tnlatere, en
Impress tan that the Conference will fee more useful sa
camouflage tiian for ;.vreotlaal aahtevemeats, Ml T think that
even Mini a tore, fop all their studied indifference, are
r-tsttlnr a little jumpy.
4. The boat toctlce for tiw United CttfftM
representatives will, of GOuree» be decide by the
re^Yreaentntlves, Including the Ki«ft G«re*leRl.©n*r, whoa they
arrive, IMl BMttftW t way be allowed to express th* Dope thai
we shell net <.Haeoure£e **ay ajnwonchca mad* by #«* Zealand
but that we should So our boot to bring the tfaw ZenlsyUk
¦ '¦ -ri .,-i . v- ,  :.   . i-rui-, 5n order to bvg1|
giving lift       Sealsnd c-overnwrit e cftanoe to aay that tftey
have ?.ip.Sq aavar.^es i:ut tfere rebuffed > «nd» secondly # because
t*wr- ratline, frcm our ;>oiat rjf view, 01 ell the ^misters Is
that toey seise ovary opportunity of indulging In generalities
Ml era unlikely to adopt different wthoda on thle occasion.
5. As       Joaaa, \ha *lniatwr at MlMtttft
announced lest v/e«fc on the occasion of a review of saae cadets
who were going to   untroon, that the ;>oliey of the Govermont
Ml MM closeat MMftftSi oo^?>eratim w*th Australia In all
defence matters, I aa^ed Stevens, the fcecrstarv of the council
of i;efenee end of the organization for RMtMl Security, how
this co-operation at v>reeont worfea out.     He said that
technical co-operation between Australian ana lie* Zealand
a-av&l forces and military forcea is <i"lte g§ft| ml that there
\78Q no reason to auirwse that technical co-opersti-cwi between
the respective air forcea would not la tlae HI equally good*
BO
D.O
ao far the       Zealand Mr i?orce waa hardly al<\ enough to
provide ouporttavltlea for eo-opamtton*     &ayon*l that,
however, so far from ©©-operation, there is scarcely any
contact.     7hia wu apparently brought home to him laet year,
when e ^o?>er on Australian ooeotel defence reached the Hew
Zealand Govemnont from the C,I,D., and preatrtebly the
corresponding paper on .'few :,eaXe<na coRStai seftinoe reached
tho conmonveeXth Government throat the aerae channel.
rhereu;>on the ilew Zealand Govormmit tentatively beg«
eending the cemottwaelth ooremment copies of auoh defence
papers ao they thought raight be of interest to the;-;. ?heoe
papers were IMM9 sven acknowledged MM the Ooranonweelth
Government dies not reciprocate.    Mr. ^*evfc£?e than wrote to
Mr. l-yonfs gunseating ooraplote reciprocity and exchange of
opinion on defence oubjecta.    He received e reply cordially
KeXcoraliv- the proposal and aayin£ that the natter had been
referred to tfr. ?horby» then mister of Jefenca In
Australia, trm woon nc would hear further. Nothing
rurther hasi however, bean heard fra??i the GowptonweAXth
• overaoent from that day to this.
6. r So not know, of course, what will be
contained in the -ntnorandura which the High .onsniss toner la
bringing with him, bat, aa an exmpXe oi the kind of
<jusetiona that the $9* Zealand reprwaentetiva© at the
conference are expecting to aek, t might montlm an enquiry
aa to the viewo of the United   ingdera oovcrnraont on
contemplated Fleet tflapoaitions, with a^eolal reference to
Singapore, in the liitht of the way in which an exaer^anoy in
Europe might be exacted to develop.
7. It la far irm clear to rae that the Jfw
Zealand Government have yet cleared th^ir own minds ae to
what results they want from the conference.     So nwmoranda
apparently
- 3 -
apparently hart yet been written, except the report of the
chiefs or Staff on the Pacific lslande# which the Jfew Zealand
Govera&ent themeelvee inaiet la only of subsidiary importance*
If any memoranda do come to light in sufficient time before
the conference, r will offer the oorvlcee of thlo ofl'loe and
of the High umiealoner at Canberra aa a channel for tiie
transmission of any ouch doniMente to the I mi ted x tardea
ervice representatives on their way hero.    The Ouneilieiit
will, of eourrse, he anxious to organise the Conference
uroixsrOv, but X do not know  hat they have ever had a
yxi' .v -a;:c     r-   bl    c zlitn Vic •  -an    Ir oute
Conference in October, 1936, and certainly no arrangements
ore yet in train.     However, I have heard that the Imperial
onferonoe mMHHMi on the arrangement n MP the 1057
jonferonce le much In denend:
Yours ever*
(    Igned )   O. S. MB mMVKM