Mr Marshall says facts given

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32660, 16 July 1971, Page 2

Mr Marshall says facts given

The Labour Party was doing its “poor best” to discredit the special arrangement for New Zealand in the E.E.C., said Mr Marshall tonight, replying to Mr Rowling.

“Mr Rowling alleged that the Government has not told the public the true facts about the' E.E.C. situation,” Mr Marshall said. “The true facts are contained in the agreement between Britain and the Six. “This is a public document which has been widely publicised for anyone interested to read and study. “When I reported to the House I gave a full, factual account of the negotiations. The Government also published a Parliamentary Paper giving the background facts. All the relevant facts are available, but if the Labour Party is still in the dark they have tile question procedure of the House to seek further information," said Mr Marshall

“Mr Rowling was critical of my statement (which he did not quote in full) where I said that the special arrangement in itself does not

call for any major economic reconstruction within New Zealand.

“If we had failed to get a special arrangement and

were being shut out of the British market, as Australia will be, we would have had to undertake a major reconstruction of the economy. This is now happily unnecessary. “Mr Rowling then tried to create the impression that the Government is doing nothing about the remaining problems. If he had listened to my report to the House or read my report to the National Development Council he would have known the approach the Government is making.

“I think he must have heard this subconsciously because what he is now saying the Government should do is what I said the Government would do when I spoke in the House two weeks ago.

“I said then: ’We face the challenge of finding new markets for the quantities of butter and cheese which will be gradually excluded from the British market, but we have the time, we have the ingenuity, and we have the capacity to cope successfully with those problems.

“ ‘We must now proceed, as we will, to make a careful and thorough analysis of the problems and opportunities which this new situation creates. We must review our

plans for development for production and for marketing.’ “We have already started this work,” Mr Marshall said.