INDEPENDENCE OF N.Z.

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25364, 11 December 1947, Page 7

INDEPENDENCE OF N.Z.

PASSING OF NEW ACT “TIES WITH BRITAIN NO LESS INTIMATE ” (Special Correspondent N.ZJPA.) LONDON, December 9. “Such trammels as there were on New Zealand’s independence since the passing of the Statute of Westminster in 1931 were retained at her own request, and have now been willingly repealed,’’ says the “Daily Telegraph” commenting m a leading article on the passing of the New Zealand Constitution Amendment Act. “As Mr Noel-Baker and Mr Oliver Stanley alike emphasised, the ties between Britain and New Zealand are no less intimate in the new conditions,” says the “Daily Telegraph.” “Not only have these constitutional limitations been successively retained and removed in answer to New Zealand’s wishes, but no difficulty has ever appeared to spring from their existence. “During the 12 years’ rule of a Socialist Government in New Zealand, important constitutional developments have, in fact, occurred without the need of sanction from the British Parliament. The basis of rural franchise has been changed, women have for the first time been admitted to the Legislative Council and to the Cabinet. Now the Opposition wants to abolish the second chamber altogether. “These are all rightly regarded as matters for decision by the Parliament at Wellington, and not that in Westminster. But it is as well to make it clear, for instance to other members of the United Nations, that Parliament in Westminster has surrendered the right as well as the wish to be consulted.”