Apartheid opposed, but relations kept

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 32860, 8 March 1972, Page 1

Apartheid opposed, but relations kept

(New Zealand Press Association)

WELLINGTON, March 7.

The New Zealand Government was opposed to apartheid, but that should not lead to a break of relations with South Africa any more than ideological differences had led to breaks with Communist nations, the Prime Minister (Mr Marshall) said on the N.Z.B.C. “Gallery” programme tonight.

Asked if he was worried about international reaction to the Government’s refusal to interfere with sporting contacts with South Africa, Mr Marshall said he was —but not about extremist views.

“Our approach of building bridges and not walls is a much better policy, one which we will try to get accepted,” he said.

Mr Marshall voiced a similar attitude when asked about New Zealand’s apparent' disagreement with United Nations policy on apartheid.

“When United Nations resolutions are based on boycotts and sanctions, I have no hesitation in saying I disagree with them. A far better approach is moderation and respect,” he said. When asked if the Government would hold an official reception for the touring Springbok team in 1973, Mr Marshall said no official provision had yet been made for one, but added that it was “merely a matter of common courtesy” to hold a reception for international guests.

He noted that the Government recently held a luncheon for a visting Russian delegation, commenting that this “does not imply accepting their ideology.” Mr Marshall also said that the Government would not tolerate the “massive disruptions” that had been threatened during the Springbok tour. New Zealanders were free

to express their opinion within the law, Mr Marshall said, but if they broke the law, they would suffer the consequences. Protest wave The Government decision to endorse sporting contacts with South Africa has pro-

voked a wave of protest from a number of groups throughout the country.

The new policy was immediately condemned by opponents of apartheid. Dr P. W. Hohepa, chairman of the Auckland District Maori Council, said that Mr Marshall “by one statement, had done more to betray the country’s image and practice of racial tolerance than any other person over the last 156 years of Maori-Pakeha contact.”

“(Jo-ahead”

Mr T. O. Newnham, secretary of the Citizens’ Association for Racial Equality, described the move as “giving toe go-ahead” to Mr Vorster.

Referring to the proposed Springbok tour next year, Mr Newnham said: "Never has an apartheid sports team had such a deliberate and explicit endorsement as this one. bv the head of any foreign government. “This is what we find so appalling. It doesn’t square with the Government’s past attitude,” he said. Saying that Mr Marshall had wrongly judged the mood of many countries abroad, and also the mood of -New Zealanders in his statement, Mr Newnham added that his association would continue to oppose the forthcoming Springbok tour. The President of the Federation of Labour (Mr T. E. Skinner), said in Wellington today that the national executive would make its views on the statement public tomorrow.

Other reports: Page 2