N.Z. ‘Reputation For Ignoring Maoris'

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32117, 13 October 1969, Page 1

N.Z. ‘Reputation For Ignoring Maoris'

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, October 12.

Because of utterances by some of its public men and sporting bodies, New Zealand was gaining a reputation overseas as a staunch member of the Anglo-Saxon worldwhich largely-ignored its Maori people, Miss Judith Todd said today.

Miss Todd was making the last speech of her six-week tour of New Zealand, during which she has lectured on racist policies in Rhodesia and South Africa.

Several hundred people paid a dollar each to attend a wine and cheese party and to hear Miss Todd speak. Before the declaration of unilateral independence by Rhodesia, the Prime Minister (Mr Holydake) had said that any such declaration would mean the parting of the ways for -New Zealand and Rhodesia, said Miss Todd. But, apart from nominal subscription to the policy of trade sanctions against Rhodesia, there was little evidence of any rift between the two countries. New Zealand and Canada had an important role to play in future years to prove that the predominantly white nations of the Commonwealth were not racist, she said. Unfortunately, no-one could look to Australia for support in this role.

It was a tragedy that New Zealand sporting and other influential bodies had not spoken out more clearly against offering help and encouragement to nations which practised a hideous system of racial discrimination, said Miss Todd. If New Zealand sent a Rugby team to South Africa and Rhodesia next year it must be in full awareness that its footballers would he playing in a country filled with people suffering because they opposed apartheid. If everyone in New Zealand who opposed apartheid and sporting tours of apartheid countries wrote one letter a week to the Prime Minister, it would be a considerable influence for good,

said Miss Todd. The Government would be forced to take notice of -such pressure.