Bomb test dates not confirmed

Press, Volume CXIII, Issue 33155, 20 February 1973, Page 3

Bomb test dates not confirmed

(New Zealand Pres* Association) WELLINGTON, February 19. " There was no certainty that April would be the date for the suggested French nuclear tests in the Pacific, the Prime Minister (Mr Kirk ) said tonight.

Mr Kirk told a press conference that suggestions of an April date had been speculation, and he had received nothing attributable to any official source which could indicate a date. Mr Kirk said he had not yet received a reply to his

letter to President Pompidou, stating New Zealand's opposition to the tests. On the timing of the tests, Mr Kirk said that April might be a possibility, not a probability. From past tests it appeared that the date chosen ■ by the French was related to weather, and most tests had been made about the middle I of the year. The Prime Minister said that New Zealand had made its position clear to the French Government, and had considered its position if it should get an unfavourable ' reply. He did not want to go ’ further until he had heard ‘from France. i He reiterated that to send a frigate to the test area i would be a last resort. In I reply to questions, he said that’the question of refuelling had been considered, not just I in this contingency but gen- ; erally. Mr Kirk said that there were a lot of other channels to be explored. “Nothing would be left undone to bring pressure to ;bear. There is much opposi--1 tion to the tests, and the major task is to channel it into one or two areas. Otherwise its loses effect,” he said. Mr Kirk said that he had had encouraging responses from other countries to suggestions for a Pacific meeting and to the proposal to send foreign ministers to France on the issue. But at the moment there were a number of other conferences in Paris. ' Mr Kirk said he did not want to say anything at the

, l moment that could be seen -1 by any of the parties involved ■in the French Parliamentary :, elections as an attempt to bet come involved in the domes- - tic policies of that country. t