Conservatives Endorsed

For five months, Prime Minister Sidney G. Holland, leader of the New Zealand National (Conservative) Party, bitterly fought the Communist-led Waterside Workers Union, whose repeated strikes tied up the country's vital export trade. Invoking wartime emergency regulations, Holland declared the union illegal, sponsored a rival union, on rare occasions denied the dockers the right of assembly, free speech or publication. When the striking dockers finally gave in (TIME, July 16), Holland decided that New Zealand should have an opportunity to say it approved of his tough methods. He called for a general election.

The Labor Party, which had kept quiet during the strike, now began calling Holland a "Fascist." Labor also dredged up some new issues: 1) the increased cost of living, in part due to the five-month strike; 2) Holland's attempt to put a little free enterprise back into the New Zealand welfare state; 3) an accusation that Holland had slavishly followed U.S. foreign policy (his government recently concluded a security pact with the U.S., will sign the Japanese peace treaty, is against recognition of Peking).

Last week, New Zealand voted. Result: a clear-cut victory for Holland.

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