Text of an address delivered by Trevor Richards, National Chairman of the Halt All Racist Tours Movement, Saturday, September 14, to a conference in Christchurch organised by the Christchurch Committee on Southern Africa.

It is well known that there exists in New Zealand a pro-apartheid lobby, composed of a few disgruntled people who found themselves unable to come to grips with the twentieth century. The claims made by these individuals in their attempts to defend both apartheid and contact with teams selected on the basis of that system often mirror the official handouts from the South African Consulate in Wellington, and their activities clearly lack public support. The various pro-apartheid groups have been until now nothing other than of minor irritant value. Their activities have certainly in no way set back the growth of the anti-apartheid movement in this country — if anything, their presence has assisted the growth of our movement.