Lord Porritt’s views

Press, 31 October 1981, Page 2

Lord Porritt’s views

NZPA staff correspondent London The New Zealand Government should have “sat on” the New Zealand Rugby Union to stop the Springbok tour, a former GovernorGeneral of New Zealand, Lord Porritt, has told a meeting in London, according to the “New Zealand News U.K.” weekly newspaper.

Lord Porritt, who was addressing the New Zealand Universities Graduates’ Association, was quoted by the newspaper as saying that the union was living in the last century. He was quoted as saying,

"Anyone who still sticks to the concept that you can separate sport and politics should go and shoot themselves. I think they (the union) have done incalul'able harm to New Zealand.

“I think the Government was quite right not to take a ‘ stronger line than it did: to refuse visas would be absolute! wrong. But I do think it might paternally have sat on the Rugby Union much more heavily. “They in their superficial way said, ‘We are just playing rugger.’ But our reputation is at risk.” Lord Porritt, who visited New Zealand earlier this

year, was quoted as saying that the debate on the Springbok tour had been “fantastic and awful. Not only the country was divided but families were. It really was one of the most unpleasant things I have ever seen in New Zealand.”

The newspaper said that Lord Porritt, declaring himself a “rabid monarchist,” had spoken out against the recent practice of appointing New Zealanders as gover-nors-general.

The newspaper quoted him as saying, “New Zealand is not big enough to find a series of governors-general of its own and, even more, to know what to do with them when they finish. There are a great deal of people here, in the services and ex-diplo-mats, who know New Zealand — who often know as much about it as most New Zealanders — and could do the job admirably.”

Lord Porritt, who was born in New Zealand, was quoted as saying that Sir David Beattie was “a first class man and I think he will be a first-class GovernorGeneral.”