British diplomats scoffed at New Zealand's "relatively simplistic" peace movements, even while warning the country's 1987 anti-nuclear legislation offered a potentially dangerous example to the world.
The comments were contained in a series of valedictory dispatches sent to the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London by British high commissioners to New Zealand over a 20-year period.
Copies were released to the Otago Daily Times following a request under British Freedom of Information laws.
They covered the stints in Wellington of four of the five British high commissioners to serve in New Zealand between 1987 and 2006, when the tradition of sending the dispatches from all Britain's diplomatic posts ceased.
Comments by Robin Byatt (High Commissioner 1987-90) were the most revealing.
Writing in 1990, he said "educated" New Zealanders had a desire to see their country "give a lead" on the international stage, which was perhaps a "part of their British heritage".
"That is not easy to achieve for a country of only 3.3 million people, surrounded - apart from Australia - by half a hemisphere of ocean and polar waste, and that is not itself sure where to go or how to get there."
However, the "yearning to be somebody and to be going somewhere" might explain why "relatively simplistic" left-wing peace movements "seem to wield more influence here than in most developed societies", he wrote.
That movement had "scored two major successes", in anti-nuclear legislation introduced in 1987 and keeping New Zealand forces out of the build-up of multilateral forces in the Gulf in 1990, following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.
"Many of the `peace' activists have the objective of a neutralist and isolationist Aotearoa (they like to use the country's Maori name).
"I do not believe they will achieve their objective."
He described instructions from London to reduce tensions between the two countries over the anti-nuclear issue, while also "firmly" conveying Britain's continuing displeasure at New Zealand's policy.
It was the anti-nuclear policy which "frustrates defence co-operation . . . and poses a potentially dangerous example to other countries", he wrote.
It was hoped the country's anti-nuclear policy would eventually be repealed, he wrote: "Such a change is not realisable in the short term but may later become so.
"Meanwhile, we should seek to discourage New Zealand from drifting any further away from the main stream of Western defence and strategic thinking."
He noted the governing Labour Party was made up of younger ministers of the Vietnam War generation, and was "far more sensitive than are the National Party to the slogans and blandishments of the peace movement".
However, he anticipated a change of government with a National Party victory at the 1990 election, and urged officials in London to seize the opportunity for advancing British interests that victory could provide.
"Given a change of government . . . I suspect the past six years may prove to have been the high point in the influence of the neutralist left in New Zealand.
"If a National Party government emerges and if it holds out a hand towards us, we should take hold and pull.
"It cannot be done with one jerk, but steady encouragement to discuss and to co-operate may help in time to ease New Zealand back on the rails."
Defence issues and the survival of the anti-nuclear policy continued to be noted in dispatches by subsequent high commissioners to New Zealand, although - perhaps reflecting the passing of time - not with the same detail or energy.
David Moss (High Commissioner 1990-94) described New Zealanders as possessing a "keen, and usually narrow, sense of what matters to them" in international affairs, and urged greater efforts to "exploit" the country's continuing stand-off with the United States over nuclear issues.
"While the US has ruled itself offside over most defence purchases, we have a better chance to sell defence hardware here.
"We need to exploit this opening . . ."
Robert John Alston (High Commissioner 1994-98) said there was a "still immature debate" on defence and security issues within New Zealand, with a lack of clear understanding about the need for New Zealand forces to equip to work in different configurations with allies abroad.
"Sensible discussion of this is inhibited by New Zealand's visceral anti-nuclearism and the consequent bar to full partnership with the US."
Richard Fell (2001-06) described most New Zealanders as "instinctively multilateralist and non-nuclear", which shaped a negative reaction to the Iraq War, while Britain's civil nuclear shipments across the Pacific Ocean required "careful management".
The dispatches also discussed changes to New Zealand's political, economic and social makeup over the last 20 years - while noting the continued Britishness of the country - and discussed the likely, but not imminent, move away from the monarchy.
Mr Byatt described New Zealanders as possessing "no shortage of get-up-and go", while Mr Alston said Kiwis "desperately want outsiders to be impressed by what they find".
"[British Labour MP] Austin Mitchell described the repeated question 'how you like the country?' as a request for reassurance, encouragement and admiration.
"Many feel that their dream is still insecure and vulnerable and that is somehow the fault of the outside world."
The documents do not, however, provide a complete picture - sections of all four documents were blacked out by British Foreign and Commonwealth Office staff before their release to the ODT.
Those sections appeared to discuss the New Zealand Government, defence policy, bilateral relations, Maori and race relations, national identity and even the traditional overseas experience (OE) by younger New Zealanders to the United Kingdom.
A letter accompanying the documents, from the office's Southeast Asia and Pacific Group staff, said release of the passages would hamper diplomatic relations between the two countries and the UK's ability to promote its interests through international relations.
Older dispatches are not held by the British Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and there was no immediate response to a request for copies from the UK's National Archive.
They said it:
"The yearning to be somebody and to be going somewhere may explain in part why relatively simplistic left-wing `peace' movements and the like seem to wield more influence here than in most developed societies."
- Robin Byatt, British High Commissioner to New Zealand, 1990.
"Many of the `peace' activists have the objective of a neutralist and isolationist Aotearoa (they like to use the country's Maori name). I do not believe they will achieve their objective."
- Robin Byatt, British High Commissioner to New Zealand, 1990.
"New Zealand is a cork bobbing about on the waves of world trade."
- David Moss, BHC to New Zealand, 1994.
"Despite their unpopularity, New Zealand politicians generally serve the country tolerably . . ."
- David Moss, BHC to New Zealand, 1994.
". . . Kiwis seem pretty attached to their present flag, Union Jack and all. And they may take some shifting on that."
- David Moss, BHC to New Zealand, 1994.
"New Zealanders desperately want outsiders to be impressed by what they find, but are still evolving a real sense of national identity . . . Many feel that their dream is still insecure and vulnerable and that is somehow the fault of the outside world."
- Robert John Alston, BHC to New Zealand, 1998.
"We should continue to encourage the awareness of young New Zealanders, and the flow of the best of them to Britain."
- Robert John Alston, BHC to New Zealand, 1998.
