Protest Against Visit

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31196, 21 October 1966, Page 3

Protest Against Visit

(N.Z. Press Association) WELLINGTON, October 20.

The crews of al! New Zealand-manned ships at Auckland, Tauranga, Wellington, Onehunga, Lyttelton, Dunedin and Picton held a one-hour stoppage between 9.30 and 10.30 a.m. today as a protest against President Johnson’s visit to New Zealand.

A Seamen’s Union official said the crews had discussed the implications of the President’s visit and supported the Federation of Labour and the Labour Party's policy on the Vietnam issue.

“The union congratulates Mr Kirk and the Labour Party on the stand they have taken,” he said. The solutions recorded at meetings were that a protest be made to the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) that there be no further escalation of the Vietnam war, that New

Zealand troops should be withdrawn, and “that Mr Kirk, the Labour Party and the Federation of Labour be congratulated on the stand they have taken.”

The crew of the 10 ships in Auckland each sent telegrams to the Prime Minister asking that troops be withdrawn from Vietnam

The president of the Federation of Labour (Mr T E. Skinner) said in Auckland that President Johnson was the head of another country visiting New Zealand, and, as such, should receive the same courtesies as any other visiting head.