✨ Royal Speech to Parliament
Complementing this progress in agriculture has been a steady development of manufacturing industry. The recent discovery of natural gas and condensate oil is another heartening promise for the industrial future of New Zealand.
The life of any nation must also be measured in other contexts than those of material progress. It is therefore with pleasure that I have learned of a widening stream of literature and of expanding interest and activity in other artistic fields.
I have been heartened, moreover, by the further signs of solid progress in the building of a unified nation from New Zealand’s diverse European and Maori cultures. While the decisive responsibilities for this rest with individual men and women, the Government has an important part to play, particularly in providing guidance and assistance. I have been keenly interested, therefore, in the establishment by my Government and people of the Maori Education Foundation. I am certain that it will assist my Maori people in making a vital contribution in all fields of national endeavour.
In their approach to national and international affairs, my Ministers attach special importance to New Zealand’s membership of the Commonwealth and to the standards of conduct acknowledged by Commonwealth countries, their common institutions, their predisposition towards mutual trust and sympathy, and their cooperation in a vast range of human activities.
It was with a feeling of special satisfaction that, on the recommendation of my Government in New Zealand, I recently appointed Sir Kenneth Gresson, President of the New Zealand Court of Appeal, to sit as a regular member of the Judicial Committee of my Privy Council. The inclusion of a New Zealand Judge in the Judicial Committee will, I feel sure, serve to enhance its importance as a Commonwealth link.
The movement among the countries of Western Europe towards closer economic and political association has important implications for New Zealand and all other Commonwealth countries. To the members of the Commonwealth the benefits of economic interdependence, together with the other traditional ties, have always meant a great deal in terms of mutual well-being and progress. The broader developments of today require a close and searching appraisal of additional measures to provide New Zealand and other developing countries with the wider opportunities they need for international trade. I am fully confident of the Commonwealth’s capacity to cope with changing conditions without losing either its cohesion or the character of multi-racial partnership by which it is distinguished.
It is a matter of regret to me that it will not be possible on this occasion to see more of New Zealand. I look forward with keen anticipation to visiting other places when I next come to this country.
Nor has it been possible for me on this journey to visit New Zealand’s island territories for whose people I hold the closest affection, or to accept the most thoughtful invitation of the Samoan Government to visit Western Samoa.
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VUW Te Waharoa —
NZ Gazette 1963, No 9
NZLII —
NZ Gazette 1963, No 9
✨ LLM interpretation of page content
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Her Majesty the Queen's Speech Opening Parliament (continued)
(continued from previous page)
🏛️ Governance & Central Administration12 February 1963
Parliament, Royal address, Queen, Legislation, State opening, Agriculture, Industry, Natural gas, Maori Education Foundation, Commonwealth, Privy Council, Judicial Committee, Western Europe, International trade, Island territories, Western Samoa
- Kenneth Gresson (Sir), Appointed member of Judicial Committee
- Her Majesty the Queen