Last day today for petition

Press, 15 October 1976, Page 4

Last day today for petition

Campaign Half Million will end this week-end, with a projected total of 280,000 signatures making it the largest petition organised in New Zealand.

More than 265,000 signatures from people opposing nuclear power have been collected so far, and many petition sheets have yet to be collected.

The South Island co-ordina-tor of the petition (Mr T. N. D. Anderson) said that although the campaign organisers were disappointed that the target of 500,000 signatures had not been reached, they were pleased with the response, considering the petition had been circulating only four months. In any case, it was still the largest petition ever compiled in New Zealand, he said.

Mr Anderson said he hoped that outstanding signature sheets would be handed in promptly, because they had to be validated within two weeks before the petition is presented to Parliament. Christchurch people will have their last chance to sign the petition today, when it will be available at a stall in Cathedral Square from 11 a.m. until late in the evening, if enough volunteers can be found to man the booth.

The organisers hope to collect another 2000 signatures in Christchurch today. There had been an increased response to the compaign during the last few weeks, said Mr Anderson, and 60 to 70 per cent of all people approached in their homes or on the street had signed the petition. One in four people ap-

proached in Buller had signed. Mr Anderson said the amount of support for the petition showed that there was now a public mandate to continue lobbying against nuclear power. The Campaign Half Million committee, an autonomous sub-committee of the Campaign for Non Nuclear Futures, would be disbanded, he said, but the C.N.N.F. would continue to raise funds for the distribution of anti-nuclear literature.

“The proponents of nuclear power belong to a wellfinanced lobby, and we have to try to match their efforts.”