that the Public Works Committee was divided on the issue, Reps decided to stand firm. The chairman, Ken Towsey, wrote letters to the Mayor of Salisbury and Councillor J. J. Posselt, stressing the doubts on the Law's validity. The Public Works Committee did not stand down and on 29 March 1960, the Council sought an interdict against Reps. This brought the confrontation to the fore: the Society had 30 days until the motion would be debated on the committee. Reps sought the advice of Advocate Macaulay, Q.C. His opinion, which demolished the arguments of the Public Work Committee, was a model of precise argument. The report was about seven pages, and covered every aspect of the issue. It was said to read like an extract from Gilbert and Sullivan, as the following passage shows: "Even if the council had the power .. to regulate the use of sanitary conveniences, the Bye-Law would still be bad in law and void for vagueness and uncertainty and unreasonableness. It prohibits the use of one race of conveniences used by another race. How can any member of the public know whether the convenience has been used, at some time, by a member of another race? Once so used the convenience becomes incapable in law of being used by the race it was intended to serve! One illegal use by a member of the wrong race would thus render it incapable in law of being used by any race at all, thus removing it altogether from the awkward problem of human relations." On 8 April, the report was privately conveyed to the Mayor, who advised them to quietly carry on with its current policy. A few days later, the motion for an interdict was defeated. The 'Battle' was over. 1965 to present In 1965, Prime minister Ian Smith declared Rhodesia's independence from Britain. This action, surprisingly, had no adverse effect on Reps' earnings for that year. However, in the following years of Smith's rule, the sanctions against the country meant that obtaining the rights to perform became increasingly difficult. Many overseas companies felt that if they granted rights to Reps, they would be seen as somehow endorsing Smith's policies. Adrian Stanley negotiated many of these contracts, and managed to obtain rights to several new productions – such as Godspell and Jesus Christ Superstar. These two shows would become the most popular shows in Zimbabwe's history.