Who Cut the Apron Strings and When? Adopting the Statute of Westminster in New Zealand in 1947

Abstract

New Zealand's 'independence' from the United Kingdom can be seen as a process with a number of key steps, including Dominion Status in 1907, the various Imperial Conferences post World War I, the Statute of Westminster 1931, its adoption in New Zealand in 1947, and the New Zealand Constitution Act in 1986. Central in this process was the Statute of Westminster. But of all the Dominions, New Zealand was the last to adopt the Statute in 1947. This article takes a fresh look at the archival records to ask why. The conventional thesis is of 'reluctance to cut the apron strings'. It is indeed the case that in the late 1920s and leading to the 1931 passage by the UK parliament of the Statute, New Zealand did not want to change its constitutional arrangements. But in 1931 the UK Parliament passed the Statute anyway. For New Zealand, this was a fundamental breach of the convention that the UK parliament would not legislate for a Dominion without its 'advice and consent'. The breach of that convention caused anger in Wellington, but was hushed up to avoid political trouble in Westminster. It also caused a significant legal problem that needed the UK Parliament to fix - and this could not be done until 1947.