DEFEAT OF LABOUR

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29384, 10 December 1960, Page 13

DEFEAT OF LABOUR

“Catholic Vote Tipped Balance” LONDON, December 8. The defeat of the Labour Party in New Zealand was not. for once, due to an economic crisis, a party split or unpopular policies, the “New Statesman’s” Commonwealth correspondent said today. “On the contrary, the country is prosperous, there is no unemployment. and the Nash Government had a good and popular administrative record,” he said. After reviewing some of the achievements of the Nash Government, the correspondent asked “What went wrong?” “There must be four reasons for the defeat,” he said. “First, the National Party’s promise to cut taxes seemed more convincing than Labour’s—Nash had campaigned on tax cuts last time, and *hen put on the emergency taxes to meet the crisis. “The second was the disintegration of the Labour machine, to which little attention has been paid in recent years, and its divorce from much of the trade union movement.

“The third was the slick campaign of the National Party which has profited from the experience of the British Conservatives and spent a great deal of money on publicity. “The fourth, which probably proved decisive, was the question of State aid for Catholic schools. Of the 80 seats in the New Zealand Parliament about a dozen are marginal and decide the fate of governments. “In at least six of these National Party candidates gave undertakings that labour refused to give to the Holy Name Society promising to seek public money for private schools. The switch of a few hundred Catholic votes was enough to tip the balance,” says i the correspondent.