U+THE+PERIOD+1890-1900

[|Economic and Political History] Slideshare overview This is the period of the Liberals - the first real political party in New Zealand. It is the time that women get the vote. And what sort of thanks do we get for that? ** The Liberal Party was in government from 1891 to 1912. In the new administration most ministers came from areas needing strong central government. Few members were farmers. Most were townspeople such as land agents, surveyors, newspaper men, road and bridge contractors. **
 * NZ [|YEARBOOK 1893] **
 * 17. THE LIBERALS 1891 - 1900 **

** IDEAS **

** Origins: They borrowed ideas from John Stuart Mill and Henry George. But most drew from their own personal experiences. **

** Government Intervention: There should be healthy competition not monopoly. The government should be prepared to intervene to help disadvantaged groups. ** **__ Land Reform __**

** 1. Closer settlement of rural areas was needed to solve urban problems like unemployment. Most Liberals assumed people were forced into big cities by land monopolists. They idealised the small farm. This ignored economic realities. Much of **** New Zealand **** was not suitable for small farms. The big estates were very efficient wool producers. **

** 2. The Liberals had a wide variety of views on land policy. Single taxers wanted the land tax increased so that it was the sole revenue earner for the State. Others wanted Crown land available only on leasehold terms. Another group wanted the right to buy the freehold included in any Crown lease. But they agreed that a cheap form of lease should be available so that poor men could go on the land. **
 * __ Labour Reform __**

** THE BALLANCE ADMINISTRATION (1891-1893) **
 * Reeves and other radicals wanted labour reforms to solve urban problems. **

** 1. Ballance kept a diverse party together. He was cautious about change. **

** 2. The upper house -the Legislative Council, packed with opposition members -was very obstructive. **

** 3. Ballance tried to improve party organisation by setting up a Liberal Federation to which local associations and other organisations could affiliate. It collapsed in 1894. **

** 4.The basic economic principle was to balance the budget. This limited taxation policy and public works. **
 * New Legislation **

** 1. __Land and Income Assessment Act__ (1891) established the first income tax and a graduated tax on big estates. **

** 2. __Land For Settlement Act__ (1892): McKenzie, Minister of Lands, finally succeeded in a compromise allowing a mixture of tenures, freehold and leasehold. It was very popular in rural areas. The 999 year lease provision gave better security for loans. **

** 3. __Bureau of Industries__ (1891) was established by Reeves, Minister of Labour. It later became the Department of Labour **

** 4. __Truck Act__ (1891) required workers to be paid in cash not goods. **

** 5. __Employers' Liability Act__ (1892) required damages to be paid to workmen injured by the carelessness of employers. **

** 6. __Factories Act__ (1891, 1894) restricted the hours worked by women and boys and provided for registration and inspection of all factories. **

** 7. __Advances to Settlers__ (1893) enabled farmers to borrow at low interest rates from the State. **

** 8. __Compulsory Purchases__ (1892) gave the government the power to buy land from the runholders. ** **__ Depression Persists __**

** But big problems remained. Settlers badly needed credit. Banks and the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Company were in trouble, the Australian boom had collapsed. **

**__ Political Problems __**

** Many Liberals wanted faster action especially over prohibition. The Women's Franchise Leagues demanded the vote. Ballance died. **


 * SEDDON AS PREMIER (1893-1906) **

** Stout the most likely successor, did not have a seat in the House of Representatives. But Stout was outmanoeuvred politically by Seddon. Seddon's leadership was confirmed by the l893 election. He had popular support from **** Auckland **** and country districts of the **** North ** ** Island ****. He introduced a new style of popular leadership. **


 * Prohibition **

** Local Option (1893): A compromise measure designed by Seddon to outmanoeuvre Stout; each licensing district needed a two-thirds vote with over half the voters voting before it went dry. **


 * Women's Franchise (1893) **

** Stout, always a strong advocate for women's franchise, tried to outflank Seddon. Seddon decided to support the Government Electoral Bill, banking on the Upper House rejecting it. They failed to do so, but Stout had failed in his bid for the leadership. **

**__ The 1893 Election __**

** Seddon fought it on a conservative theme. The successful Cheviot land subdivision helped the Government's popularity. The Liberals enjoyed a large majority. Women voted for the first time. **

**__ Policies 1894-5 __**

** The Cabinet was far from stable. But Seddon's authority grew. He established the caucus principle. Once a collective agreement over policy was made, it was then binding on caucus members. An increasing demand for public works and cheap loans for farmers required modification of Ballance's self-reliant economic policy. **

**__ Legislation __**

** I. Bank of **** New Zealand **** Guarantee Act (1894): The government intervened to support the Bank of **** New Zealand ****. **

** 2. Shop And Shop Assistance Act (1894) regulated working conditions in shops. A modification to the Factories Act did the same for factories. **

** 3. Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act (1894) set up new procedures to deal with labour disputes. **

**__ Reeves Leaves __**

** But there was increasing opposition to Reeves and the labour laws inside the Liberal Party. Reeves left the Cabinet in 1896 to be Agent-General in **** London ****. **

**__ The 1896 Election __**

** The Liberals had a comfortable victory. They were identified with strong central government. The opposition was weak and divided. But there were still high levels of unemployment in the towns, the depression showed few signs of lifting, the land settlement programme and public works expenditure had not yet had much impact, and the Legislative Council was still obstructive. **

**__ Legislation __**

** 1. The Old Age Pension (1898): The final legislation in 1898 was not generous. A pension was provided for aged poor over 65. Excluded were Asians, those in prison for 12 months or more, and those with convictions for drunkenness. Many Maori found it difficult to prove eligibility. **

** 2. Public servants provided the stimulus for further legislation. Grace Neill was concerned with the establishment of State maternity hospitals, the training of nurses and mid-wives and the administration of Public Health **

** ASSESSMENT OF THE LIBERAL ACHIEVEMENT **

** Party Politics: It was a transition period for party politics. Pressure groups and sectional interests were still weak. Initiatives to organise the Liberal Party came from the top. It was not a grass roots organisation. **

** Humanitarianism: In spite of the limited nature of the legislation, the origins of the welfare state can be identified. **

** Bureaucratic Growth: New departments such as Education, Labour and Agriculture identified areas for further legislation. **

** Social Engineers: Foreign visitors saw the Liberals as building a new society. **

** Effect of Land Legislation: in turning **** New Zealand **** into a land of small farmers. **

** 1. Market forces were more important than the land legislation. **

** 2. The purchase of big estates was limited in its impact. **

** 3. With improving land values, many large landowners found it worthwhile to break up their estates. **

** 4. Most of the new farms were on new land, much of it in the **** North ** ** Island ****. **


 * Topic Two: Essay Six, 2006 **
 * // Explain the factors that led to many New Zealand voters deciding to elect a Liberal Government in 1890. //**
 * // Evaluate the consequences of this decision on New Zealand politics and society until 1900. //**

· Increasingly politically aware and active population since the abolition of the Provinces in 1876. · The increasing importance of central government to the lives of New Zealanders. · Acts of parliament saw the growth of government departments and an increasing bureaucracy to manage the work. · Social and economic problems of the country were now expected to be solved by legislation, as Vogel had initiated in the 1870s. · The Long Depression and the inability of Harry Atkinson and his “Scarecrow Ministry” to respond in any meaningful way to it. · The Depression widened the gap between migrants’ dreams for a better life and the reality of their lives in New Zealand. The Depression revealed some of the myths about New Zealand being a land of plenty. There were old world evils in the New World: strikes, sweating, poor working conditions, poverty, crime, suicide, and great difficulties for people wanting to get onto the land. · The Liberals promised security, land and welfare, and an end to the industrial disputes that had frozen the New Zealand economy at one time during the depression. · The Long Depression had sparked the need for unions and for improved working conditions for the masses. · The 1880s saw a developing active population involved in campaigns for change on a variety of issues such as sweating, female franchise, prohibition, etc.
 * The candidate’s response to the first part of the essay question could include: **

· The end of the “Continuous Ministry” and the birth of party politics. The Liberals are supposedly New Zealand’s first political party, but were the previous administrations really as “continuous” as the Liberals made out? The various ministries of the 1870s and 1880s had quite different policies. It has been argued that the phrase “continuous ministry” was coined by the Liberals when they were in power so that they could blame the non-Liberals for everything that had happened in the past. · The Liberals gained enough support to put through a legislative programme (the so-called “Social Laboratory”) that included Old Age Pensions, advances to settlers, new standards for working conditions, breaking up the “great estates” (both South Island Pakeha and North Island Māori) and industrial arbitration, but how radical were they really? Their sympathy for the underdog didn’t extend to Māori. Māori were denied the advances given to settlers and were eligible to only half the Old Age Pension. McKenzie’s land policies led to the huge amounts of Māori land loss in the North Island. · It has also been argued that the much heralded “closer settlement” legislation of the Liberals might not have been as significant as McKenzie claimed. Private sub-division opened up much more land than state repurchase. The Government was offered much more land than it bought. This eagerness to sell was due to the fact that the estates were often heavily mortgaged and the depression had reduced the value of the land. The invention of refrigeration made smaller farms economically viable. Important Liberal reforms that the candidate could refer to include: · Truck Act 1891 meant that people had to be paid in cash, not in kind. · Dept of Labour created to inspect factories and help people find work. · Factories Act 1894 restricted working hours for women, girls and boys; set holiday entitlements; and ensured the safety of the workers in the work place. · Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1894 provided a mechanism for the settlement of industrial disputes. · Land and Income Tax 1891. · Dept of Agriculture developed to educate farmers 1892. · Lands for Settlement Act 1892 empowered the state to buy land for resettling small farmers. · Advances to settlers Act 1894 – enabled Pākehā farmers to develop their land. · Large-scale Māori land purchases. · Old age pensions were set up by the Liberals in 1898. · Women were given full suffrage in 1893 under the Liberals (and despite its Premier’s stalling tactics). · Equal grounds for divorce for both men and women 1898. · James Carroll became the first Māori Native Minister 1899. · Political / economic. · The Liberals fought and won a battle against the governor’s interference in national politics. They were therefore seen as more democratic and more responsive to the people. · The Legislative council or Upper House was by and large an anachronism by this stage and the Liberals reduced their powers even more.
 * The candidate’s response to the second part of the essay question could include: **
 * Labour **
 * Land **
 * Social Changes **