SOCIAL CREDIT HEADS DECLARE DISTRUST OF HAVANA CHARTER

Wanganui Chronicle, 30 June 1948, Page 6

SOCIAL CREDIT HEADS DECLARE DISTRUST OF HAVANA CHARTER

(P.A.) Wellington, June 29. Members of the New Zealand Social Credit Association view with grave distrust the Bill to ratify the International Trade Agreement and the Havana Charter, according to a statement issued by the association’s naitonal secretary. “We are convinced that ratification can bring nothing but disaster to New Zealand and the world. Should Parliament agree to this New Zealand will no longer be a self-governing nation. She will have surrendered her sovereign powers and economic independence to external control,” the statement says. “We believe it absolutely essential to the welfare of the Dominion that these powers be jealously safeguarded and that at all times New Zealand have freedom to manage her ow n affairs. The proposals of the International Trade Organisation, if accepted, constitute a surrender of economic sovereignty unique in history; henceforth New Zealand’s future would become a matter for the International Trade Organisation to decide. With her comparatively insignificant voting power as a member what influence would she be able to exert? We are utterly against any measure that hands the Dominion’s future over to an army of international bureaucrats and that menaces our primary producers and young industries.' The statement, added that the association’s views had been conveyed to the Prime Minister, the Leader of the Opposition and members of Parliament. As on previous occasions when the Bretton Woods debate nad been expected, the association had advocated an Eraoire Customs Union. In spite of present difficulties, which in many r-ases were deliberately brought about, he British Empire still had an enormous economic potential.