RHODESIAN CAMPAIGN

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30943, 27 December 1965, Page 3

RHODESIAN CAMPAIGN

Leaflets Put Case

f.Vew Zealand Press Association;

AUCKLAND, Dec. 26.

New Zealanders with friends or acquaintances in Rhodesia are receiving letters as a part of a campaign.

Leaflets, setting out the current crisis as Rhodesians see it, are being sent out in large numbers to families in Britain and other Commonwealth countries.

One of these, received in Auckland last week, is entitled: “An appeal from the people of Rhodesia.” It goes on: “We supported you in your hour of need. Please support us in ours. Let your member of Parliament know the truth.” The leaflet contains a facsimile of the deed of proclamation by which Rhodesia annexed independence. It puts forward the claim that Rhodesia has not rejected the possibility of racial harmony in Africa, and that Britain alone was responsible for the break-up of the federation.

Any suggestion that the new Rhodesia is opposed to the Queen or Britain at large is strenuously denied. Independence “forges an unbreakable link with the people of Britain, and maintains our long proven loyalty to the Queen,” says one leaflet.

“Add your voice to the many millions in Britain who are not prepared to see their kith and kin in Rhodesia submitted to measures which will not beat us to our knees, but will only cause bitterness and lasting resentment. “We will never surrender to force and intimidation.”