U.S. Secretary of State William Rogers has made a tour of the Mekong Delta area with other delegates attending a Conference of the Allies of the South Vietnamese Government.

With representatives from South Korea, Thailand, Australia and the United States, Mr. Rogers spent most of last monday (6 July) travelling through the rice-growing district of Ba Xuyen which is 90 miles (145 Kms) south-west of Saigon in the Mekong Delta.

At Each village small groups of children were quick to provide entertainment, musical items and dances for the visitors and their wives. The tour also provided an opportunity for the party to observe local soldiers being briefed in self-defence measures, and the Revolutionary Development cadres whose responsibility it is to protect the political, educational, agricultural and administrative aspects of village life.

A highlight of the day tour was a visit to an experimental farm which grows and tests various strains of "miracle" rice. The farm is located in the largest rice-producing province of the Mekong Delta, which is some-times referred to as the "ricebowl of Asia".

In the village of Phu Tam there was a further welcome for the party, before it returned to Saigon. Mr. Rogers said after the visit, and before his departure for Japan, that he would not advise President Nixon to speed up or slow down withdrawals of American troops from Vietnam, but would however be commenting on the programme of "Vietnamisation".