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On 6 December 1935, the first Labour Government took office following a landslide victory in November's general election. The sweeping win brought Labour 55 seats in Parliament and ushered in a period of office, first under Michael Joseph Savage, and then under Peter Fraser, which was destined to last until 1949.

The Labour government showed great vigour and enterprise in dealing with the problems of the day and in creating a pattern of governmental participation in and regulation of New Zealand society, which lasted well into the mid-twentieth century. The Labour Government tackled policies concerning public works, dairy prices, domestic marketing of commodities, as well as amending industrial legislation to make membership of an appropriate trade union compulsory for employees. Perhaps the most important change made by the Labour Government was the institution of the Social Security Act 1938. This Act established a wider and more generous social welfare structure that embraced old age, widowhood, unemployment, invalidity, hospital, maternity and other benefit payments.

Supported by recovering export prices, New Zealand's domestic activity stimulated the economy and quickly reduced unemployment. By the time the 1938 election came around, the public were grateful and rewarded the Government and Michael Joseph Savage personally with a degree of public popularity and affection previously only held for Seddon. The Labour Party was re-elected with the highest vote share ever won by any party - almost 56%.

Labour's win in 1935 changed the political landscape drastically, creating the two-party system that dominated New Zealand politics for the rest of the 20th century. The National Party formed in 1936 out of the Liberal-Reform coalition. Labour and National alternated as either governing party of official opposition until the introduction of proportional representation in 1996.

The 1949 New Zealand general election saw the Labour Government defeated by a twelve seat margin by the National Party, led by Sidney Holland.

Archives Reference: AAWV 23583 Kirk1 28/[A] R23935413

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Material from Archives New Zealand
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Source Labour Government
Author Archives New Zealand from New Zealand

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This image was originally posted to Flickr by Archives New Zealand at https://flickr.com/photos/35759981@N08/11090463333. It was reviewed on 8 September 2016 by FlickreviewR and was confirmed to be licensed under the terms of the cc-by-sa-2.0.

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