"Clear That Britain Will Sell N.Z. Down Drain”

Press, Volume CVII, Issue 31521, 8 November 1967, Page 18

"Clear That Britain Will Sell N.Z. Down Drain”

(N.Z. Press Association) HAMILTON, Nov. 7. It was now abundantly clear that Britain would sell New Zealand “down-the-drain” when and if necessary, Dr C. P. McMeekan, senior agricultural advisor to the World Bank, said in Hamilton tonight.

Addressing the Waikato branch of the Economic Society of Australia and New i Zealand, Dr McMeekan said j that should Britain join the Common Market, New ZeaI land’s economic position i would be immediately and ; seriously jeopardised. “Anyone who believed that l special conditions would be

insisted upon and obtained by Britain for our protection was incredibly naive, though, until recent disillusionments, to have said so would have been labelled disloyal and a handicap to Government actions here,” he said. British endeavours to join the Common Market were dictated solely by motives of self-interest'. For this it was prepared to destroy the remnants of its Empire and Commonwealth. Harsh French terms for British entry—financial conditions relative to sterling devaluation—arose not from fears of British participation but from the determined French attack on sterling and the dollar as the two key world currencies to the ultimate power of France. Dr McMeekan said he was deeply concerned at the prospect of Britain’s action, even

though the precise effect on i New Zealand's volume of I sales and their prices had to! be a matter of guesswork. ! Preparations “I would be even more con- 1 cemed if I was not fairly con-i fident that a strategy to meet the various eventualities has already been worked out by those responsible—the Treasury. the Department of Industries and Commerce, and the producer boards." There were many ways of meeting such a crisis, if and when it came. Some would mean New Zealand’s departure from the Commonwealth. “This modern growth of large trading blocs means that we must not only constantly review out association with them, however meagre this may be, but we too should look at the possibilities of a similar approach. “The possibilities of a Pacific common market with Australia, Malaysia, Formosa, the Philippines, Japan and New Zealand, for example, needs careful and realistic investigation and appraisal, not in the long run, but now,” Dr McMeekan said.

Still Afire.—The Greek freighter Kostis A. Georgilis was still burning late yesterday after catching fire on Friday near the Coco Islands in the Bay of Bengal.—Rangoon, November 6.