Sister-in-law Starts In Christchurch

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32382, 22 August 1970, Page 1

Sister-in-law Starts In Christchurch

“As long as it makes people think about the war then my fast will be worth it,” said Mrs Sue Taylor in Christchurch yesterday. She has already been fasting for a week in protest against New Zealand involvement in Vietnam.

Mrs Taylor is a sister-in-law of Dr Stephen Taylor, who finished his fast of 40 days in Auckland at 2 p.m. yesterday. He, too, had been fasting in protest against New Zealand’s involvement in the Vietnam war. Unlike Dr Taylor, who conducted his fast in Albert Park, thereby attracting much attention, Mrs Taylor has been fasting in the privacy of her Christchurch home. She said this was because she had a dependent father and a husband and three children, she said. “I have been fasting for both moral and political reasons, although I am not a Communist “1 feel a bit of responsibility because I voted for the Government that sent troops to Vietnam and I hope to correct this by my protest” Studies Resumed Mrs Taylor has returned to university t>art-time this year to study history. Her reason for protest was threefold, she said. “Honesty and integrity is

the first principle on which I am basing my fast “I do not feel that the Government has been completely honest with the facts. -Incomplete statements are made that are biased to the way the Government is thinking. Second Reason “Pacificism is the second reason. I disapprove of interfering in other people’s troubles; my way of life is to try not to hurt, and to be peaceful,” she said. She was not totally op-

posed to war if it were necessary to protect the basic rights of the people involved, she said.

“The terrible suffering of the Vietnamese people is my third reason for protest; 1 am a humanitarian.” Her husband, Mr Peter Taylor, thinks that the announcement of the proposed withdrawal of some New Zealand troops may have been prompted by the fast of his brother in Auckland; and Mrs Taylor considers that she is carrying on where Dr Taylor left off. Juices, Extracts She is only sorry that' she is not a more influential person because she thinks that her protest would carry more weight. When asked about her diet of juices and vegetable water and extracts, she said she was “annoyed that people ask about stomachs.” “The main aim is to get publicity—to talk to people who don’t know the facts,” said Mrs Taylor. “As 1 am over-weight it certainly won’t hurt my health, but this is only a minor consideration." She finds that she is rather tired and dizzy sometimes but still managed to do a morning's duty at the local playcentre. She has not bothered to weigh herself, so she does not know how much weight she has lost. The picture shows Mrs Taylor with her five-year-old daughter, Nicola.