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...
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