Govt Action On Tour?

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32214, 5 February 1970, Page 14

Govt Action On Tour?

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copyright) LONDON. The • Guardian” claimed yesterday that the Home Secretary (Mr James Callaghan), is trying to persuade the M.C.C. to cancel this year’s tour of Britain by the South African cricket team. Peter Jenkins, author of the front page story, says Mr Callaghan is confronting cricket clubs with the full cost of police protection, estimated to be at least £250,000 ($535,500). Jenkins says this would be a "ruinous price” for the’ clubs. He argued that the affair has now take on a new political significance with the Conservative Party making law and order an election issue.

Forty-seven Conservative members of Parliament yesterday tabled a Commons motion congratulating the Springbok Rugby team and all their British opponents on "the sporting spirit displayed” during the tour. The police also came in for praise for their patience and efficiency “under gross provocation,” but the M.P.s condemned the “violence and lawlessness” of some demonstrators, and the encouragement they had received from others not directly participating. The motion called for the effective maintenance of law and order, as well as “sharp and salutary sentences for those convicted of offences of violence and aggression.”