The Press MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1963. A Vote For Political Stability

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30303, 2 December 1963, Page 14

The Press MONDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1963. A Vote For Political Stability

Both the Prime Minister (Mr Holyoake) and the electors can congratulate themselves on the result of Saturday’s General Election —Mr Holyoake on obtaining a decisive mandate, and the electors on giving New Zealand the greatest degree of political stability in the country’s history. Only one seat changed hands, just possibly two, a result without precedent. Further, the balance of power is no longer held by the so-called marginal seats; National could lose all of the handful it won narrowly on Saturday and still be the Government. Though the poll was only of average size, it appears to have given a clear expression of the people's will. The figures suggest that where substantial numbers of voters abstained they did so with discrimination, and that no party suffered generally from the exercise of this right. Mr Holyoake and his party can well be proud of such a measure of the country’s confidence. The Labour Party, though naturally disappointed, has also reason for satisfaction from the trend of voting, which should have removed any doubt about the acceptability of Mr Nordmeyer as leader. Labour would not have polled as well as it did in many seats if it had

not been able to win back support from those who ab- ' stained in 1960. A strong Government is faced with a strong Opposition, ?rmly based to offer an alternative whenever the country is ready for a change. That, too, is a matter for national satisfaction. The doubtful and historic distinction of being the only member to lose his seat in this election of minimal change goes to a Cabinet Minister, Sir Leon Gotz. Even his strongest opponents will feel sympathy for a bonny fighter who had won seemingly impossible battles in the past. The results indicate that he might have been wiser to contest Manukau instead of Manurewa; but in any event he was severely handicapped by his association with the Golden Kiwi lottery, a handicap he did nothing to lessen by some of his speeches. Parliament will miss his controversial figure. The greatest triumph was at the other end of the

country in Invercargill, where the Attorney-General (Mr Hanan) had to contend with vote-splitting by the strongest of the Liberal candidates (Mr HuttonPotts). Mr Hanan had a good majority, which may become an absolute majority over his three opponents. All members of Parliament in the northern half of the South Island deserve congratulations on winning well and, in some cases, turning small majorities into comfortable ones. This unusual feature, cutting right across party lines, is probably the result of many influences, but chiefly, it may be guessed, of the tendency of persons with little interest in party politics to vote for a sitting member who seemed to have served his constituents well. The lesson that the personal quality of a candidate is important should not be lost on party organisations.

Although the Social Credit leader (Mr Cracknell) has a slight lead in Hobson and may yet win the seat, his party on the whole has slipped back a little. Good gains in some electorates such as Hobson, with its history of unorthodoxy and a keen local issue in rival ports, have been offset by losses in others. Even the relative triumph in Hobson should not blind Social Crediters to the fact that they cannot become a national party until they make some progress in attracting votes. Although careful analysis will be necessary before firm conclusions are drawn, the preliminary figures give the impression that in the absence of a Social Credit candidate Social Crediters tend to abstain and that correspondingly they do not tend, except in special cases, to draw many votes from the other parties. The other small parties, the Communists and the Liberals, made little impact. The Communists were no doubt satisfied with the opportunity the campaign gave them to express their philosophy. The Liberals, however, may well wonder whether their venture was worth all the effort that went into it and whether they could not have achieved more by supporting the National Party. Certainly they can derive no encouragement from the rebuff they received from the electors.