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- WORLD, Page 38World NotesNEW ZEALANDA Fretful Farewell
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- The Prime Minister's quandary was the stuff of high
- political drama: Would David Lange swallow his pride and give
- a Cabinet portfolio to his onetime friend turned archrival Roger
- Douglas, as his ruling Labour Party demanded? Lange's answer
- last week stunned the nation. "I intend to step down," said
- Lange, who cited his health as the reason for his resignation.
- But most political observers believe Lange quit rather than work
- with a man he had forced out of the Cabinet only last December
- for pushing economic reforms too far. Ironically, both will
- serve in the government of the new Prime Minister, Geoffrey
- Palmer, where Lange has accepted the post of Attorney General.
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- Lange will be best remembered in the U.S. for his
- government's decision to ban nuclear-armed or -powered ships
- from New Zealand's harbors, a move that caused a major rift with
- Washington and led to the suspension of New Zealand from the
- ANZUS alliance. That rupture seems unlikely to close soon.
- Palmer said he plans no changes in domestic or international
- policy.
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