Mr Wilson’s visit may be later

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32677, 5 August 1971, Page 3

Mr Wilson’s visit may be later

(N.Z.P.A. Staff Correspondent)

LONDON, August 4.

The British Leader of the Opposition (Mr Harold Wilson) is unlikely to visit New Zealand and Australia before the Labour Party’s annual conference in Brighton in October.

A spokesman in Mr Wilson’s office said that the former Prime Minister’s schedule was too crowded to allow him to make the trip.

The spokesman said he could not say if the visit would take place later in the year.

Mr Wilson was officially invited to New Zealand by the Deputy Prime Minister (Mr Marshall), in May this year: no time was set but it is known that dates in August had been tentatively discussed. The decision not to travel to New Zealand throws in some doubt the depth of Mr Wilson’s opposition to British entry to the Common Market.

Only last week, the Labour leader declared himself

against entry in the terms negotiated by the Conservatives. The safeguards, he said were not the permanent ones he would have regarded as satisfactory. To reinforce this argument, it would have seemed natural for Mr Wilson to be anxious to travel to New Zealand to get a first-hand impression of the attitudes of both the Government and the New Zealand Labour Party. Some commentators have been saying that Mr Wilson has not changed his mind about Europe, but is merely anxious to keep the antiMarket wing under control. Had he relinquished his influence over it—as he would have done if he had come out with a pro-Market stand —an even tougher Labour Party line against entry could have emerged. It is believed that Mr Wilson was anxious to forestall any move which would have committed Labour to withdrawing from the Community after entry, if there was a change of power at Westminster.

Meanwhile, a spokesman at Transport House, headquarters of the Labour Party said it was improbable that the president of the New Zealand Labour Party (Mr W. E. Rowling) would be allowed to speak' on the Common

Market at the Brighton conference. It was announced last week that Mr Rowling would attend the conference as an observer. “It’s certainly not usual for observers to speak,” said the spokesman. “I do not think the rules would be changed in this case.” It was reported that the New Zealand Labour Party had written to the secretaiy of the British party (Sir Harry Nicholas) asking. that Mr Rowling be allowed to speak. The spokesman said the letter had not yet arrived but when it did it would be discussed, and an answer given.