THE BATTLE FOR NEW ZEALAND HOTS UP

Mr. Eric Butler reports from New Zealand as his three-week tour draws to a close:
"Perhaps it was providential that as New Zealanders battle to retain what little real independence they have against the thrusts of the various international revolutionaries, urging them to "think big", that on the eve of Prince Charles' arrival a special article by the Prince should appear in "The New Zealand Herald", with the central theme that "Small Is Beautiful". Clearly a devotee of the late Dr. Fritz Schumacher, whose famous work was aptly sub-titled, "Economics As If People Mattered", Prince Charles leaves no doubt that he is not an admirer of economic centralism. Inadvertently Prince Charles has encouraged a growing number of New Zealanders who are beginning to grasp that they are being conditioned to accept as inevitable the surrender of New Zealand to the programme to absorb New Zealand into the New International Economic Order, starting with closer economic ties with Australia.

A New Zealand columnist, Mr. Cedric Mentiplay of "Truth", suggests that it was President Jimmy Carter, the Trilateralist, who suggested that the Trilateralists, currently headed by David Rockefeller, would back a South Pacific Common Market dominated and led by Australia and New Zealand.
Displaying a much stronger national pride than Australians, New Zealanders have a long history of suspicion concerning internationalist proposals.

New Zealand was the last member of the English speaking Crown Commonwealth to accept the International Monetary Fund and The World Bank. But the imposition of harsh finance economic policies can result in desperate people surrendering to the "think big" philosophy. The high inflation rate in New Zealand has resulted in production costs for the beef and sheep producers increasing by 50 per cent over the last two years. Prices for beef, lamb and wool have not increased. In fact there have been reductions.

The cost-price squeeze is hurting, which is one of the reasons why large numbers of traditional National Party supporters in the farming areas are highly critical of the Muldoon Government and ready to make a massive protest at the next elections. Now comes the news that timber and dairy exports to Japan are in for a beating with timber prices being slashed and exports cut by half. New Zealand will almost certainly have to voluntarily reduce its edible fat exports. The deepening crisis will either result in an intensification of the programme of "get big or get out", with an acceptance of the surrender of New Zealand's resources to the multinationals, these in the main financed by the international financiers promoting the New International Economic Order, or a complete change of thinking concerning orthodox finance economic policies which force a nation like New Zealand to concentrate increasingly upon exports to solve internal problems.

New Zealand Foreign Minister Talboys says that when "rationalisation" of production in Australia and New Zealand is achieved - which means that, for example, the Australian dairying industry will be phased out still further, while the same will happen to the New Zealand textile industry - it will then be possible for Australia and New Zealand to work together "to exploit the opportunities within each other's market and beyond to the Asian-Pacific region".

That sumarises what is proposed. But it is still possible that New Zealanders, stimulated by Prince Charles' support for the "small is beautiful" philosophy, will decide that they can solve their own problems without being sucked into the New International Economic Order. New Zealand's geography and small population are its greatest assets. It could lead the world away from the prevailing madness towards sanity.

JEREMY LEE REPORTS FROM CASTLEGAR BRITISH COLUMBIA

"There is now almost universal condemnation of the Trudeau government's energy policies by Canadian companies. Many point out that the nation's self-sufficiency is being reduced day by day. On March 16th the Globe & Mail, Canada's national paper, produced a special supplement on energy. Most interesting was the report on oil shale in New Brunswick, one of the Maritime Provinces. Large shale deposits exist in the Province, so far hardly assessed as to extent. A survey of a one square mile block indicates a minimum of 300 million barrels. If only 5 percent of the remaining formation contains the same yields, there is at least 15 billion barrels.

The Athabasca tarsands contain at least one trillion barrels. The only company handling the oil shale in New Brunswick is Occidental Petroleum, managed by the ubiquitous Armand Hammer. Hammer has recently come out in support of Prime Minister Trudeau's National Energy Policy (NE.P.) From the son of one of the founding members of the United States Communist Party, that's quite a recommendation! Hammer has also told Canadians that oil prices can be expected to reach $100 a barrel within the near future unless alternatives are opened up.

A League supporter at the Edmonton meeting I addressed had recently returned from a visit to one of the organisations researching the use of hydrogen in the United States at Culver City, California. The supporter had become interested after reading the small booklet "Three Rings". The organisation he visited was the Consumer Solar Electric Power Corporation, whose chairman is Gerald Schaflander. He was able to drive round the city in a hydrogen-powered car. The main problem - that of storage - has now been overcome with the discovery of a liquid hydride suitable for pumping straight into the petrol tank of a normal car.
We have reached a stage where the world could be shifted off oil altogether apart from lubricants - relatively quickly. But whether the necessary capital for a change will be made available is quite another question.

Having originally set July 1st as the deadline for patriation of the Constitution from Britain, Trudeau has now announced that he will try to bulldoze it through by Easter. At that time Quebec will be in the middle of another provincial election, and, Mr. Trudeau hopes, off his back as far as the Constitution is concerned. Debate in the Canadian House of Commons will be gagged, and a little more blackmail applied to the classic "divide and rule" tactics so evident in Trudeau's political repertoire.

MALCOLM FRASER SEEKS 4-YEAR TERM, WITH SOME TRICKERY

"The Federal Government plans a referendum on extending the parliamentary term from three to four years." The Australian, April 2nd.

Mr. Russell Schneider, prominent political commentator, observes that this is certain to spark a row between the Federal Government, the States, and possibly even Government senators, and backbench members of the House of Representatives. The trickery to which we refer above is that, as the report states, Mr. Fraser wants the four year term linked to simultaneous elections for the Senate and the House of Representatives. Readers will recall that the Government held a referendum on Simultaneous Elections at the time of the 1977 Federal elections, and that this referendum was defeated. Now, it appears that it is to be sneaked in the back door.
The League played a significant part in the defeat of this referendum, as it was a blatant attack on the integrity of the Senate: we have commented on this only recently in these pages.

The four-year plan was drawn up by a seven-man committee chaired by Senator Austin Lewis, a Liberal from Victoria, who was first appointed to replace the late Senator Ivor Greenwood. It is interesting to read the names of those on the committee: Mr. Max Burr (Lib., Tas), Mr. Alexander MacKenzie (N.C.P., N.S.W.), Senator Alan Missen (Lib., Vic.), Mr. Phil Ruddock (Lib., N.S.W), Sir William McMahon (Lib., N.S.W.), and Senator Chris Puplick (Lib., NS.W.).

The committee recommended a fixed term of office (naturally!) This means that there would be no early elections called, as there can be at present, with the three-year term (a "maximum" term). All parliamentarians, of all parties, would like the "fixed term". No worries about losing one's seat in any sudden election.

But all isn't roses in Mr. Fraser's garden. Mr. Burr, although all for the four year fixed term, is strongly opposed to simultaneous elections, stating that the Senate should not have to go to the people at the same time as the Lower House. And he's right on this particular point.
It appears that Government senators are buckling somewhat: they would resist simultaneous elections unless the Government agreed to a fixed, four year Parliament. No politician likes that threat of the sudden election, which can always come up under the "maximum" term of parliament; and of course all politicians should have just this, to keep them on their toes.

Once again: No four-year terms; no fixed terms; no simultaneous elections.