Last Session Of Seminar Hears Attorney-General

Press, Volume C, Issue 29444, 21 February 1961, Page 8

Last Session Of Seminar Hears Attorney-General

(Hew Zealand Press Association)

WEUJNGTON, Feb. 20. If the rights of the individual were not respected in practice as well as in theory, order and security became synonyms for tyranny, the At-torney-General (Mr Hanan) said when officially closing the United Nations seminar on human rights today. “It is a paradox that at a time when human rights are being more and more widely recognised, the power of the State to infringe or destroy those rights is greatly increased.” he said. Knowledge of tfie material world was for the first time making it possible for people to have living conditions which would make freedom possible. Yet it had not proved easy in many countries to bring about material benefits without to some degree suppressing the freedom and dignity of the individual. The goal was to have laws and practices as near to the ideal as conditions allowed. A country fortunate enough to have a homogenous and prosperous population might find the path relatively straight; others might be faced with a difficult task, he said. “In some countries, and New Zealand is not exempt, an attitude of veneration had developed towards certain institutions,” said Mr Hanan. “The feeling has grown up that criticism of them is not quite proper. These seminars must help to free people from this advanced intellectual paralysis.” Mr Hanan said the New Zealand Government felt the power of the State had tended to create in men’s minds the idea of a colossus, whose arbi-

trary will it was impossible for the ordinary citizen to oppose. The appointment of an ombudsman—an appeal authority against the mis-use of State power—was being considered. The Government had already ordered a systematic investigation of the working cf judicial tribunals. There would be further changes in the light of the seminar discussions, he added.