Mr Smith’s Request

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31247, 20 December 1966, Page 20

Mr Smith’s Request

In spite of the reticence of Mr Holyoake about whether he has received a message from Mr Smith, it need not be doubted that Mr Smith has proposed a test of public opinion in Rhodesia on the constitutional proposals made by Britain. The diplomatic niceties have to be observed; and Mr Holyoake may be wise not to acknowledge publicly that he has had a cablegram from a regime that the New Zealand Government does not recognise. Yet Mr Smith’s regime is real enough; and any messages he sends to other Governments have meaning, even if they are not formally accepted.

The requests to Mr Holyoake and to the Prime Minister of Australia may mean that Mr Smith is uncertain about the support he will get in Rhodesia when members of the United Nations apply sanctions. Since the censorship was lifted from Rhodesian newspapers, more evidence has come to light to suggest that even the white Rhodesians are far from unanimous in supporting the refusal of the Smith regime to entertain the last British proposals, put to Mr Smith aboard H.M.S. Tiger. The widelyadvertised appeal endorsed by a former Prime Minister of Southern Rhodesia, Lord Malvern, is striking evidence that many white Rhodesians favour the constitutional changes sought by Mr Wilson. The appeal will probably evoke expressions of public opinion no less effectively than would a commission of “outsiders”. The time is past for this kind of formal inquiry. Mr Smith has now to accept or reject Britain’s proposals. If he has second thoughts about the decision he and his “ Ministers ” made on December 5 he should accept the proposals and let a new constitution take care of public opinion. Mr Smith still believes he can negotiate with Britain. He should do so in the interests of all Rhodesians. If he is uncertain whether most Rhodesians, irrespective of colour or race, now think his action to be wrong he has no justification for continuing his regime.