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Abstract
This article concentrates on New Zealand's constitutional and cultural identity through the fascinating political meanderings between independence and dependence in political and constitutional matters that surrounded the ratification of the Statute of Westminster. New Zealand was the last of the Dominions to pass the Statute in 1947, sixteen years after it could have done in 1931 when most other Dominions did. New Zealand did not ratify this critical Act because it did not wish to appear ‘disloyal’ to Britain even though the ‘Mother Country’ had no problems with this happening. New Zealand's position mirrored the country's ambivalence between a separate national identity and interdependence moored with Britain and the Commonwealth. Though this may seem contradictory, these policies and positions accurately reflected what was perceived as New Zealand's interests. The politics and reactions of New Zealand towards the Statute of Westminster betrayed the reality that New Zealand's independence lay, in the government's mind of that era, in the country's dependence and deference to Britain whether London wanted it or not.
Notes
1. Section 53 of the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 (Imp).
2. ‘Autochthony’ comes from the Greek ‘sprung from that land itself’. For the relevance of this term for Commonwealth constitutional politics, see Wheare (Citation1960).
3. Report of the Inter-Imperial Relations Committee, Imperial Conference, 1926, in Keith (Citation1938).
4. Speech by P. McGilligan, Dáil Eireann, 16 July 1931, in Keith (Citation1938).
5. George Forbes' introductory speech at the Imperial Conference, 1 October 1930, in Keith (Citation1938).
6. See sections 8 and 10, especially, of the Statute of Westminster 1931; Ross (Citation1973); Zines (Citation1991).
7. Extracts from a broadcast by the Prime Minister, the Rt Hon. M. J. Savage, 5 September 1939, in Mansergh (Citation1953).
8. Interestingly, Sidney Holland as Prime Minister echoed Savage's speech when discussing the Suez Crisis in 1956. Holland told the House that: ‘It was a very great man who coined the sentence, “Where Britain Stands, we stand”. I have said many times that we on this side of the House adopt that. I believe that that is the mood of the people of New Zealand. Where Britain stands, we stand; where she goes we go, in good times and bad’ (Statement by the Rt Hon S. G. Holland in the House of Representatives, 7 August 1956, in Government of New Zealand [1972]).
9. New Zealand Parliamentary Debates (henceforth NZPD), Vol. 264, p. 7, 23 February 1944.
10. Summary of Reasons for which New Zealand should adopt the Statute of Westminster, 7 November 1947, Statute of Westminster 1927–1947, EA 1 159/1/5 Part 4 IA 1 123/6, Archives New Zealand/Te Whare Tohu Tuhituhinga O Aotearoa, Head Office, Wellington (henceforth ANZ).
11. Writers like Crown Solicitor A. E. Currie and Professor R. O. McGechan wrote advocating the step to clear doubt on our legislative abilities (Currie, Citation1944; Beaglehole, Citation1944).
12. NZPD, Vol. 279, p. 534, 7 November 1947.
13. Statement by the Rt Hon Peter Fraser, Chairman of the Trusteeship Committee of the San Francisco Conference, June 1945, in Government of New Zealand (Citation1972).
14. Evening Post, 7 August 1947.
15. A. McIntosh to all NZ Missions overseas re: Statute of Westminster, 19 September 1947, Statute of Westminster 1927–1947, EA 1 159/1/5 Part 4 IA 1 123/6, ANZ.
16. Notes on the purpose and effect of the adoption by New Zealand Parliament of Sections 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 of the Statute of Westminster and the New Zealand Constitutional Amendment (Consent and Request) Bill. Circulated by the Prime Minister and Minister of External Affairs, Rt Hon Peter Fraser, 7 November 1947, Statute of Westminster 1927–1947, EA 1 159/1/5 Part 4 IA 1 123/6, ANZ.
17. NZPD, Vol. 279, 7 November 1947, p. 534.
18. NZPD, Vol. 279, 7 November 1947, pp. 535–538, and see notes on Doidge, Statute of Westminster 1927–1947, EA 1 159/1/5 Part 4 IA 1 123/6, ANZ.
19. NZPD, Vol. 279, 11 November 1947, pp. 550, 554.
20. NZPD, Vol. 279, 21 November 1947, p. 86.
21. NZPD, 150th Anniversary Sitting of Parliament, 24 May 2004 p. 13192.
22. Unlike other Dominions which had long since stopped the practice, in New Zealand the Governor-General was not only the King's Representative but Representative of Britain as well till 1939, when the first British High Commissioner arrived, but continued as the sole channel of communication between the two governments till 1941.
23. The ‘Country Quota’, which had been part of the New Zealand electoral system since the 1880s added a fictitious amount (around 28%) to the rural population to balance it against urban centres. The Governor-General believed the electorate should have been consulted on such a major change to the electoral system. Peter Fraser disagreed and eventually secured abolition before the 1946 general election.
24. Cecil Day, Cabinet Offices, London to McIntosh, 7 October 1947, Statute of Westminster 1927–1947, EA 1 159/1/5 Part 4 IA 1 123/6, ANZ.
25. NZPD, Vol. 279, 7 November 1947, p. 545.
26. Personal telegram from High Commissioner for New Zealand in London (Sir William Jordan) to Fraser, 2 December 1947, Statute of Westminster 1927–1947, EA 1 159/1/5 Part 4 IA 1 123/6, ANZ.
27. Viscount Simon was a significant player in British politics having held many high offices in various administrations including Home Secretary, Foreign Secretary, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Lord Chancellor.
28. Parliamentary debates, Hansard, House of Lords, Official Report, Vol. 152, No. 16, Tuesday, 2 December 1947 (which accompanied Jordan's telegram to Fraser).