New Zealand Leader Opposes Future French Nuclear Tests

HONOLULU, Hawaii--Norman E. Kirk, prime minister of New Zealand, vowed last week to do "everything possible" to end further French nuclear testing in the South Pacific.

In an interview with The Crimson here Saturday, Kirk said he was "dismayed" that the French ,'have gone ahead [with nuclear testing] in spite of opposition from several nations."

He spoke only four hours after the French government set off a second nuclear device on Muraroa Atoll at 7:03 p.m. EDT Saturday. France exploded its first nuclear bomb on the atoll, located 720 miles southeast of Tahiti, a week earlier.

France has tested its nuclear weapons despite an injunction against the tests by the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands.

New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Sweden have protested the testing. Last week, Peru severed diplomatic relations with France because of its opposition to the tests.

Kirk said his government will appeal to France by restating its case at the World Court, canvassing for United Nations support and keeping the New Zealand frigate Canterbury in the French testing area.

He ruled out severing diplomatic ties with France, as Peru did, explaining, "If we're not talking to them, we're certainly not going to be able to persuade them.

"We have no bad relations with France. We just have problems in one area. We hope to keep that channel[diplomaticties]open."

Frigate Remains

The New Zealand frigate, with cabinet member Fraser M. Colman aboard, will remain in the testing area until "all" the French tests are over, Kirk said.

"Certainly we advanced from a position of weakness because we're a small country," Kirk said. "But the frigate--acting as our silent, accusing witness--aroused more public interest."

"We hope to draw attention to the tests and stimulate opposition to them," he explained.

Kirk said American wire services were "incorrect" in reporting that the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission is not actively monitoring the French test.

"The U.S., like the Soviet Union, is very interested in monitoring," Kirk said. "Our crew on the Canterbury has seen American and Russian observation ships near the area."

"The problem is that these two countries appear reluctant to report the details of the testing to the public," Kirk said. "Both reports of the testing this month came from the Canterbury minutes after each explosion.

"The world wouldn't know about these tests if the frigate wasn't there and if we depended on the U.S. and Soviet Union for reports," he said.

Kirk said he is still soliciting American support in protesting the nuclear testing, but he admitted some discouragement. "How they [Americans] respond to this is their business," he said. "But I have tried to remind all the democratic countries who were in World War II of an agreement that no country would brush aside smaller countries by rule of force."

He noted that Hawaii, America's 50th State, is susceptible to radioactive fallout--as are other Pacific island groups.

New Zealand scientists have already detected a light increase in radioactive fallout in the Cook Islands and in New Zealand since last week's test, Kirk said.

"The French are notorious for miscalculating the weather," he said. After the September 1966 test, winds blew nuclear debris over the Fiji Islands. Some debris hit New Zealand as well, he said.

"There is no such thing as an acceptable level of nuclear radioactivity," Kirk said. "The tests have to be proven safe before they can be accepted."

"Everyone's talking about nuclear defense," he said. "But because of stock-piling, we are advancing to a situation of mass suicide."

Kirk said, "We will do everything we can to bring about abandonment of these weapons. We'd fight any country testing its nuclear weapons in the area."

Kirk left Honolulu to San Francisco Monday en route to Ottawa, Canada for a meeting with the leaders of British Commonwealth governments next week