FOR PRESS P. M. No. _ 2/ 196
ECONOMIC CONSULTATIONS
Statement by the Pr mje Miniter_ the Rt HonSir Robert Menzies
The Prime Minister and a group of senior Ministers
this afternoon had discussions with representatives of national
organisations representing industry and commerce. After the
meeting the Prime Minister said that such meetings, which had
been held regularly in recent years, did much to inform
Ministers of current economic trends and prospects. Todayts
meeting had been most valuable from that point of view and

PRESS. RADIO AND TELEVISION CONFERENCE
GIVEN BY THE PRIME MINISTER. THE RT. HON.
SIR ROBERT MENZIES, AT PARLIAMENT HOUSE,
CANBERRA 13TH JUJLY, 196-1
PIME MINISTER : I think, gentlemen, I ought to begin by asking you
whether the procedures that I have adopted in the past are satisfactory
to you.
I noticed one complaint somewhere that I had fallen into
the bad habit, I gathered, of starting off by saying something for
myself instead of confining myself to answering questions. Well,
I am pretty sure you will agree that as there might be four or five

FOR PRESS P. M. No, 1/ 1965
DROUGHT ASSISTANCE
Statement by the A ctting Prime Minister the Rt. 7on. J. IMcEwen
Mr. McEwen, the Acting Prime Minister, today
commented on reports in some newspapers related to Government
discussions yesterday concerning finance for drought-affected
landowners. i4r, i cEwen said that after the Cabinet meeting,
he had handed out a statement on this matter wlhich obviously
had been misinterpreted in some quarters. The Cabinet
had discussed the drought situation including the matter

No. 694
FOR PRESS 65/ 094
CABINET DISCUSSES DROUGHT
The Acting Prime Minister, Mr. McEwen, announced that
in the course of a meeting in Melbourne today the Cabinet had
further discussed aspects of the drought in Eastern Australia.
Proposals which have recently been received from the
Governments of New South Wales and Queensland for Commonwealth
assistance towards drought relief measures instituted by those
states were under study and. would be further considered by
Cabinet. As had already been announced the Commonwealth was closely

FOR PRESS P .0/ j0196
OrL. RSAS VISIT BY MINISTER FOR ARMY
Statement by the hctini Prime Minister the Rt Hon JMf. McLen
The Minister for the Army, Dr. Forbes, today
leaves on an overseas visit to Malaysia and Vietnam, where
he will review the aonditions under which elements of the
Australian Forces are living and operating.
The Minister's itinerary has been specially
planned to enable him to see as many Australian soldiers in
South Vietnam, Malaya and Borneo as practicable.
Dr. Forbes will be away from Australia until

65/ 09;
FOR PRESS LP. M. N16
RANN OF KUTCH
IND IA-PKT TO s-IE AGREEMENT
Statement by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Sir Robert Menzies
Commenting on the agreement reached between
India and Pakistan to a cease-fire in the itann of Kutch,
the Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies said in London
yesterday " Every Prime Minister at the Prime Ministers'
Conference was anxious to see a settlement
in the xiann of Kutch. A great deal of work
was done by way of private discussion. de
are all delighted that the very active

P. M. 48/ 1965
FOR PRESS 65/ 090
ECONOMIC CONSULTATIONS
Statement by the Acting Prime Minister, the Rt. Honourable John McEwen
The Acting Prime Minister, the Rt. Honourable John
McEwcn, said today that invitations had been extended to
representatives of national organisations to participate in a
series of economic consultations to be held on 14th and 15th July.
Mr. Mc wen said that it was important for the Government
to obtain first-hand and up-to-date information and views on
developments in the economy from those who were actively engaged

AUSTRALIA CLUB,. LONDON
Speech by the Prime Minister, the Rt. Hon. Sir Robert Menzies
28TH JUNE, 1965
On the whole I think that what I ought to do is to say
" thank you", to say that I concur with all the bits that didn't
relate to me and to sit down, because I am here in a glittering
company. Hlere is Lord Baillieu, very modest about himself, one
of the great Australians of my lifetime. I see sitting along
here, with characteristic modesty, Alec Douglas-Home. I have
no bias about him at all. All I do is to say that I have

PRESS CONFERNCE GIVEN BY THE PRIME MINISTER,
SIR ROBERT MENZIES, IN LONDON, ON 27TH JUNE. 196S.
PRIME MINISTER,: There is a passage in the communique about the
voluntary contributions to the United Nations to get it out
of its present financial troubles, Great Britain and Canada
having made announcements. I reserved the decision of
Australia and perhaps that requires a little explanation.
What I said was there were two aspects to the
matter. One was that we all wanted to see the United Nations

FOR PRESS 655.
Extract from opening address to the annual
conference of the Australian Country Party June
23, at Wagga by the Rt. Hon. J. McEwen, Acting Prime
Minister, Minister for Trade and Industry, Leader of the
Australian Country Party
VIETNAM There 13 controversy as to whether Australian
troops should be in South Vietnam.
This is a free, independent country recognised
by the United Nations.
Australia had hoped that the United Nations
would be an organis'tion cxpable and willing to protect free