Renewed attack on Sir Keith’s appointment

Press, 20 July 1977, Page 11

Renewed attack on Sir Keith’s appointment

PA Dunedin The appointment of Sir Keith Holyoake as the next Governor-General has raised a serious' constitutional question, according to the Bishop of Dunedin, the Rt Rev. Peter Mann. Bishop Mann criticised the appointment in an address to the opening of the Anglican Synod of the Dunedin diocese. Sir Keith was an active politician and a Minister of the Crown at the time of his appointment, which had created “an unfortunate precedent,” Bishop Mann said. He said that because of the wide powers that lay within reach of the Government, it was essential to have a Governor-General who was completely impartial. “The absence of a written constitution could mean that any Government may iegis-

late as it sees fit. and the only constitutional check could be the office of the Governor-General,” Bishop Mann said. The church had to exercise the responsibility to comment upon trends within New Zealand’s political and national system and had to be free to criticise, without prejudice, the decisions of any Government if these appeared to run the risk of conflicting with Christian principles of freedom, or lay the door open for a possible abuse of power, he said. “While I wish Sir Keith well for his term of office, and will be delighted to welcome him as occasion might require, I trust that the Government and the Opposition will have heeded the uneasiness which some sections of the. community have demonstrated about this appointment, and ensure that the precedent is not followed again.”