H.A.R.T. asks Govt to act

Press, 29 November 1977, Page 14

H.A.R.T. asks Govt to act

The Government could not assert that failure of New Zealand golfers to visit Rhodesia showed that the Gleneagles agreement was being kept, the national chairman of H.A.R.T. (Mr Trevor Richards) has said in an open letter to the Minister of Foreign Affairs (Mr Taiboys). Mr Richards said the New Zealand Golf Association had made it clear that the Rhodesian trip was declined for financial reasons, and had nothing to do with the Gleneagles agreement. “H.A.R.T. believes that you appreciate the need for stronger Government action,” Mr Richards told Mr Taiboys in the letter, “but that those in the Government less liberal than yourself have held sway.” Recently, in Wellington, the Commonwealth Secretary-General (Mr S. Ramphal) had confirmed that both individual and professional sportsmen were covered by the agreement, and that every occasion of “slippage” endangered Commonwealth sport. But the Government’s line in both cases had

been contrary to that statement. Mr Richards said the Government had done nothing when it became known that golfers were considering the Rhodesian invitation. The Government now had an opportunity to change that stance, he said, by declining to issue a visa to a South African motor-cyclist, Kork Ballington, whose entry in the New Zealand Marlboro Series in December and January had been accepted by the New Zealand International Motor-cycle Grand Prix Association. “You have claimed on separate occasions that the Government has done everything possible to implement the Gleneagles agreement,” Mr Richards said. “Unfortunately, there is no truth in this assertion.” H.A.R.T. believed that Mr Ramphal, during his visit, had told the Government that its adherence to the Gleneagles agreement had fallen short of what was required, Mr Richards said, and a return to the days of boycotts could not be discounted unless the trend was halted and reversed.