UNION OFFICIALS CONSIDERING "MORE DRASTIC MOVE
WELLINGTON, Sept. 7. Fresh developments in connection with the already expressed opposition of the New Zealand industrial labour movement to the exclusion of Maoris from the All Black team for South Africa were reported in Wellington today. Some officials in the industrial labour movement, it is stated, are already considering approaches to individual All Blacks, who - are likely to be asked to decline nominatioh as a protest against the racial discrimination. Union officials who are considering this manoeuvre state that they are eonfident that a good many of the chosen players, especially those who are trade unionists or who were in the services, would promptly decline to go to South Africa. The officials make no secret of their expectations that the All Blacks would be decimated and that the team, deprived of Maori footballers and ' a considerable number of eligible pakehas, would in no degree be representative of ' New Zealand. Pakehas who accepted nomination, even after being invited to stand down as "a gesture to their democratic beliefs," would be placed in an extremely unpleasant position, state the union officials, in that they would lack the support of a great deal of public opinion. There i's some belief, although it is not eonfident in the trade unions, £h.at the New Zealand Rugby Union, after reconsidering the subject, will decide to abandon the tour rather than^persist in exscluding: Maoris. Although there has been a denial, it is known on very good authority that some trade union opiffion strongly favours drastic measures if the, tour is continued on what they term a discriminatory basis. Interested union officials have emphasised that their discussions so far have been personal and cannot be gonsidered as the official atti'tude' of the industrial labour movement, but they believe that very little effort would be needed to organise the trade union movement behind their ideas.
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Chronicle (Levin), 7 September 1948, Page 5
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313UNION OFFICIALS CONSIDERING "MORE DRASTIC MOVE Chronicle (Levin), 7 September 1948, Page 5
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