The Press TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1966. N.Z. And The London Conference

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31139, 16 August 1966, Page 14

The Press TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1966. N.Z. And The London Conference

It is to be hoped that the report that the Prime Minister and Minister of External Affairs, Mr Holyoake, will attend the conference of Commonwealth Prime Ministers in London from September 6 to 15 is well founded. Rhodesia and the progress of the policy of sanctions, left in abeyance from the conference at Lagos last January, will be the major issue at the conference. Some observers are saying that it will be an explosive issue which might cause some members, led by Zambia, to leave the Commonwealth. Many people in New Zealand regretted that this country did not give the conference at Lagos—the first Commonwealth Prime Ministers’ meeting held outside London—the recognition implied in representation at the highest political level. Another abstention by the Prime Minister would surely not be well received by the nations which are more closely involved than New Zealand in the immediate issues but which share New Zealand’s concern for the Commonwealth and its future. The desirability of Mr Holyoake’s personal attendance in London is accentuated by his being, in years of service, the Commonwealth’s senior Prime Minister.

Representing New Zealand in London will no doubt be inconvenient for Mr Holyoake at this time, when the present Parliament is in the closing weeks of its life and the political parties are preoccupied with their preparations for the General Election. The situation is not dissimilar from that in September, 1960, w’hen, because of a crisis caused by attacks on the United Nations’ Congo policy and on the Secre-tary-General, the then British Prime Minister, Mr Macmillan, made urgent representations for the presence of Sir Walter Nash {then Prime Minister and Minister of External Affairs) in New York. The Government of the day felt, quite rightly, that it could not discharge its responsibility by sending to the United Nations at a time of crisis a delegate of lesser stature than the Prime Minister. A General Election was then about two months away. If he judges that the interests of the Commonwealth might be furthered by his attendance in London next month, Mr Holyoake will be abundantly justified in disregarding any New Zealand interests that might be inconvenienced by his absence at this time.