The History of Republicanism in New Zealand page has now been updated to include the gradual changes to the Governor-General's office to become the "virtual presidency" we have today. For example:
- In 1939 Britain started appointing a High Commissioner to New Zealand, instead of using the Governor-General as the official communications channel;
- In 1967 the New Zealand government began appointing only New Zealanders to the office;
- In 1989 Sir Paul Reeves represented New Zealand at the funeral of Japanese Emperor Hirohito.
- In 2006 the Letters Patent were amended to allow the Governor-General to travel overseas without permission from Buckingham Palace.
Also, a member has found a useful statistic on the net effect of Britain's entry into the EEC on New Zealand's economy: Prior to Britain's membership of the EEC, 65% of New Zealand's exports went to the United Kingdom. By the year 2000, the figure was only 6%.
In the most recent edition of Monarchy New Zealand, one writer claims that the extent of damage done to New Zealand's economy by Britain joining the EEC has been "overblown". Surely when faced with statistics such as the above, the use of "overblown" is far from correct.
