New Zealand Listener – August 10, 2019

AUGUST 10 2019 LISTENER 37

a decade’s negotiation, Britain
entered the European Eco-
nomic Community (EEC) in
1973 and, despite an amazing
act of lobbying that provided
protection for New Zealand’s
butter and cheese for some
years, the writing was on the
wall. Through Prime Min-
ister Rob Muldoon’s central

planning and Labour Finance

Minister Roger Douglas’

insistence that the market

should rule, the economy was

transformed both in what it

produced and to whom it sold.

By 2019, the UK took less than

4% of our exports, dwarfed

by the value of sales to China,

Australia, the US and even

Japan. We were selling wines,

logs, fish, computer programs,

even films, alongside the milk

powder.

Finally, there was a major

change in our culture – we

began to read our own books

and watch our own films. We

cannot claim to be the author

of all our dreams. We still head

VE Day

May 8, 1945. “Victory tarried

long, then came in a clap of

thunder; but it was not, and

still is not, peace,” Listener

editor Oliver Duff wrote

in May 1945 – our Victory

issue. Almost a year after

D-Day, the Nazi regime had

finally fallen and Europe

was free. At last, celebra-

tion, flags and kisses. But,

as Duff continued som-

brely, “peace cannot come

suddenly any more than a

troubled pool can suddenly

go calm”. New Zealand had

lost, per capita, more men

than any other Common-

wealth country, the war in

the Pacific continued and

rationing would go on

for years. The magazine

gave away its ads to run

24 full pages on the war

years; a mixture of sad

reflection and proud hope

for reconstruction. “But,”

Duff emphasised, “this is

victory, the most crushing,

complete and spectacular

victory in modern history.

Our enemies are scattered,

crushed, disarmed and

dishonoured, blown away

like chaff from a thresher’s

floor, and we are entitled to

harbour more than feelings

of relief ... We dishonour

the dead unless we use

our victory to restore the

dignity of the human race,

which has sunk lower in five

years (as well as climbed

higher) than in any other

brief space in civilisation.”

NZ an independent nation

November 25, 1947. “The

major constitutional devel-

opment of the

postwar years

went almost

unnoticed at

the time by the

public at large,”

historian Michael

King wrote. It

remains mostly

forgotten today.

But on November

25, 1947, the New

Zealand Parliament signed

the Statute of Westminster,

and so our country became

an independent state –

responsible for our foreign as

well as domestic affairs – no

longer a colony or a domin-

ion. Canada, South

Africa and Eire had

all grabbed inde-

pendence when

Britain passed the

Statute in 1931.

We, however, were

the children who

didn’t want to

leave home. King,

shortly before

he died in 2004,

argued persuasively that

November 25 should be

celebrated, with a national

holiday, as our independence

day.

Common core curriculum introduced

1942. While war raged in
      Europe and Asia, Prime
      Minister Peter Fraser still
      found time to oversee a radi-
      cal reform of the country’s
      manifestly inequitable educa-
      tion system during the 1940s.
      The school-leaving age was
      raised to 15 and a “generous
      and well-balanced” common
      core curriculum introduced

for the first three years of

high school. He couldn’t have

done it without visionary

Education Department head

Clarence Beeby, who wrote

later that it was “revolu-

tionary, the first time any

government in New Zealand

had ever committed itself

absolutely to the idea of full

and free education for all”.

We still head off

on OEs to London

and we have not

had the courage to

remove the Union

Jack from our flag.

Walter Nash

GET

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