NORWAY END OF AN INSTITUTION INTERRUPTED ONLY BY THE NAZI OCCUPATION, NORWAY'S 
LABOR PARTY HAD BEEN IN POWER FOR 28 YEARS, LONGER THAN 
ANY OTHER DEMOCRATIC PARTY IN EUROPE . LAST WEEK IT WAS 
OUT . AT THE ROOT OF ITS DOWNFALL WAS A LONG-DEVELOPING 
SCHISM BETWEEN THE PARTY'S MODERATE, PRO-WEST MAJORITY AND ITS FAR-LEFT FRINGE, 
WHICH DEMANDS NORWAY'S WITHDRAWAL FROM NATO.TWO YEARS AGO, SOME LEFTIST LABORITES 
BOLTED, FORMED A SPLINTER " SOCIALIST PEOPLE'S PARTY, " AND MANAGED 
TO WIN TWO PARLIAMENTARY SEATS ON THE 1961 ELECTION . PARTLY 
AS A RESULT OF THE DEFECTION, PREMIER EINAR GERHARDSEN'S GOVERNMENT LOST 
ITS MAJORITY IN THE STORTING (PARLIAMENT), FOUND ITSELF DEADLOCKED, 74 SEATS 
TO 74 SEATS, WITH THE OPPOSITION COALITION . THE BALANCE OF 
POWER WAS HELD BY TWO SPLINTER LEFTISTS . RELUCTANTLY, GERHARDSEN ACCEPTED 
THEIR SUPPORT TO STAY IN OFFICE . WHAT BROKE UP THE 
UNEASY COALITION AND BROUGHT ON NORWAY'S FIRST GOVERNMENT CRISIS IN A 
GENERATION WAS A TRAGIC SCANDAL IN THE STATE-RUN COAL MINES . 
IN RECENT YEARS, FOUR DISASTROUS EXPLOSIONS AND SEVERAL LESSER ACCIDENTS HAVE 
PLAGUED THE MINES, AT A COST OF 74 LIVES . SEVERAL 
WEEKS AGO, AN INVESTIGATING COMMISSION CHARGED OFFICIAL NEGLIGENCE . LAST WEEK, 
AFTER FOUR DAYS OF ANGRY DEBATE, THE TWO SPLINTER SOCIALISTS JOINED 
WITH THE OPPOSITION IN A NO-CONFIDENCE VOTE AGAINST THE GOVERNMENT . 
ONE OF THE LEFTISTS, FINN GUSTAVSEN, EXPLAINED THAT THE S.P.P . 
TOPPLED GERHARDSEN BECAUSE " HE HAS NO LONGER ANY CONTACT WITH 
THE WORKING CLASS . " THERE WAS SPITE INVOLVED, TOO ; 
GERHARDSEN RECENTLY APPOINTED THAT OLD COMMUNIST TARGET, EX-U.N . SECRETARY-GENERAL TRYGVE 
LIE, A STAUNCH LABORITE, TO THE POST OF MINISTER OF INDUSTRY 
. AS THE UNCHALLENGED LEADER OF HIS PARTY FOR TWO DECADES, 
GERHARDSEN, 66, HAD BECOME A NATIONAL INSTITUTION, WAS SO SCRUPULOUS THAT 
HE INSISTED ON BUYING HIS OWN POSTAGE STAMPS FOR PERSONAL LETTERS 
. HE RAN A PART-FREE, LARGELY CONTROLLED ECONOMY, WAS STAUNCHLY PRO-WEST 
AND LED NORWAY INTO NATO . HIS SUCCESSOR WAS EXPECTED TO 
BE BLOND, HUSKY CONSERVATIVE FLOOR LEADER JOHN LYNG, 58, ATTORNEY AND 
BRILLIANT PROSECUTOR OF NORWAY'S NAZI WAR CRIMINALS . CONSERVATIVE LYNG'S FOUR-PARTY 
COALITION CONSISTS CHIEFLY OF FARMERS, MERCHANTS AND INDUSTRIALISTS, WHOSE ECONOMIC VIEWS 
ARE LESS STATIST THAN THE LABORITES' ; BUT LYNG WILL HARDLY 
TRY TO ALTER NORWAY'S DEEPLY INGRAINED WELFARE SOCIETY AND CERTAINLY NOT 
ITS NATO POLICIES . WITH THE TWO MAVERICK LEFTISTS STILL HOLDING 
THE BALANCE OF POWER, HE KNOWS THAT HE WILL BE LUCKY 
TO SURVIVE UNTIL THE NEXT ELECTION IN 1965 . 