1845 - 1906
The New Zealand parliament
was shaken to its foundations by the arrival in 1879 of Richard John Seddon.
Here was a man, shaped by the rough and tumble of physical work in iron
foundries, railway workshops and Australian gold mines, radiating a noisy and
loud-voiced presence in a parliament totally unaccustomed to such
rambunctiousness. Born in Lancashire, England, he had lived in New Zealand since
1866 and had quickly shown leadership potential, first as an industry advocate
and later in local politics before being elected to parliament. It was the
beginning of a remarkable era in New Zealand’s social and political history.
The New Zealand house of representatives, since it first assembled in 1854, had consisted entirely of independent members with no party affiliations. Members would group together over specific issues and gradually a clear division emerged between conservative and liberal factions. The premier, appointed by the Governor, would select a cabinet to form a ministry. When Seddon was first elected Harry Atkinson was premier and had brought a more cautious style to the role, unlike the firebrand Julius Vogel who had served before him. By the time of Atkinson’s third ministry the division in the house had become clear enough for John Ballance, the leader of the liberal faction, to be officially named leader of the opposition. In 1890 Ballance established New Zealand’s first political party – the Liberal party. The more conservative supporters of the Atkinson ministry were also coalescing into a settled grouping while a number of other members remained independent. 1890 was an election year and the Liberals, campaigning energetically and offering a range of welfare and labour reforms, won a clear majority: 40 seats against the conservatives 25 with independents winning nine. John Ballance was now Premier.
Richard Seddon had spent
most of his eleven years in parliament as an independent but joined the Liberal
party soon after its 1890 election win. Ballance immediately appointed him to
his cabinet. He served well, showed obvious leadership potential and was popular
well beyond his Westland electorate. When Ballance died unexpectedly in 1893
Seddon, not without a touch of gamesmanship, took over the leadership. He went
from strength to strength and led the Liberals to a series of five consecutive
election victories between 1893 and 1905. At the time of writing (2019) he
remains NZ’s longest serving leader: 13 years and 41 days.
As already noted, Seddon was
not the most polished of politicians. Although a powerful orator with a booming
voice, he was long-winded and not particularly eloquent. His rough diction was
seen as uncivilised by parliamentarians and political observers. All his
predecessors in the premier’s office had been well-educated professional men
with sophisticated diction and restrained manners. Seddon was bumptious and
raucous but good-natured with it and very much a man of the people. He was
enormously strong, just under 6 ft and nearly 20 stone.
While decidedly left of
centre he did not believe in two-party politics and worked towards serving the
interests of the worker without neglecting the needs of the capitalist. He was
populist and anti-elitist. He travelled extensively as a local body politician,
as a minister and as prime minister – always readily engaging with people at all
levels of the social scale but relating particularly to the working class. He
developed a special interest in the mining community.
Richard Seddon was born in
Lancashire, England and although he was made to leave school at the age of 12
his education was continued at home by his school-teacher parents. In his early
working life he was known for his physical strength and athleticism and even
resorted to fist fighting as a means of settling disputes. He worked primarily
for engineering firms and iron foundries. Wanting to get away and broaden his
horizon, he emigrated to Australia at the age of 16, first taking a physically
demanding job in a railway workshop and then moved to the Bendigo gold fields.
His success there was minimal and he moved on to NZ in 1866 to settle in
Hokitika, again looking for gold. He worked the Waimea gold field, this time
with some success and was able to open a store and eventually a hotel. He later
moved to Kumara and his political skills emerged as he began advocating for the
gold mining industry, representing miners at the goldfields warders court. He
became heavily involved in local politics: Westland provincial council, Westland
county council and was eventually elected as Kumara’s first mayor.
He entered parliament in
1879 as an independent member representing Hokitika where he had stood
unsuccessfully three years earlier. In 1881 he narrowly won the new seat of
Kumara which was a considerable triumph as it did not include his strongest
support base of Hokitika. He retained that seat till 1890 and then represented
Westland from 1890 till his death in 1906. He joined the newly established
Liberal party after the 1890 election and was appointed a minister in the John
Ballance government in 1891. His portfolios (mines, defence, public works and
marine) were handled robustly and even at this stage some saw him as Ballance’s
likely successor.
Earlier in his parliamentary
career Seddon had been unashamedly parochial and concerned himself exclusively
with West Coast issues. But as he advanced to ministerial level he became a
passionate believer in the active role of central government especially with
infrastructure and the financing of it. In his travels round the country as a
cabinet minister after 1891 he was seen as refreshingly down to earth - a man
people could relate to. After the Premier became ill Seddon was acting leader
and on Ballance’s death in 1893 a contest for the leadership of the fledgling
Liberal party between Seddon and former premier Robert Stout was expected. In
the event, Seddon won the leadership without any contest by forcing the issue
prior to Stout’s return to parliament. It was a deft move. Stout had been in and
out of parliament since 1875 and had served two terms as premier. Although he
lost his seat in 1887 he was endorsed to take over the leadership by the ailing
John Ballance and agreed to stand for re-election in order to become eligible.
But by the time he was elected in an Inangahua by-election in 1893 it was too
late – Seddon had already made his move.
As Premier (and during his
term he began calling himself Prime Minister, copying the British – with that
designation becoming permanent after him) Seddon ensured absolute power over his
ministry by choosing efficient but weak ministers (Joseph Ward and William
Hall-Jones were notable exceptions). This autocratic style earned him the
sometimes derisive nickname of King Dick. He passed ground-breaking legislation
in labour relations, land tenure, taxation, liquor licensing, state lending for
housing (which led eventually to the state advances corporation) and pensions.
His old age pensions act paved the way for the much wider welfare state
introduced by Michael Joseph Savage in 1939. In 1896 he added minister of labour
and colonial treasurer to his portfolios, dropping defence and public works. He
had become native affairs minister in 1893. For his last three years he was also
minister of education and immigration.
His relations with Maori
were somewhat paternalistic but cordial. He was persuasive in getting Maori to
agree to sell land.
Although legislation
introducing votes for women was passed during his tenure he didn’t support it
personally but correctly read the public mood and, with his hand forced by a
legislative council decision, enabled the required legislation in 1893. The
issue split the party with Stout leading the faction supporting women’s
suffrage. It would be another twenty-six years before women were granted the
right to stand for parliament.
Seddon was an imperialist
and a royalist, dazzling imperial conferences, jubilees and Edward VII’s
coronation with his towering presence and regal dress. He had no hesitation in
committing NZ troops to the South African boer war. He lobbied for British
support for the annexation of Samoa into the commonwealth and for NZ to
incorporate Fiji.
He continued to live in
Kumara (though rarely home) until 1895 when he finally moved to Wellington. He
and his party faced no co-ordinated opposition and won re-election in 1893,
1896, 1899 and 1902. Only in 1896 was there any threat to the Liberals’
dominance when the conservatives (26) and the independents (9) won a total of 35
seats to the Liberals’ 39.
There were signs that
Seddon’s health was beginning to fail as early as 1897 but he continued with his
heavy work and travel schedule. He was relying more and more on himself and less
and less on his cabinet colleagues. As he continued to deteriorate there were
unsuccessful attempts to replace him as leader with deputy Joseph Ward. Around
1904 he realised he needed to pay more attention to his health and embarked on
an exercise and weight reduction programme. This left him in better shape to
campaign for the 1905 election which turned out to be his (and the Liberals’)
biggest win: 58 seats out of 80. Despite this, cracks were starting to show in
the Liberal party. Several sitting members felt the party was not progressive
enough and needed a shot in the arm. They formed the New Liberal party which
also attracted several independent members. The party won two seats in 1905 but
it was short-lived and soon either absorbed back into Liberal or into either the
Socialist party (formed in 1901) or the newly-formed Independent Labour league
(1905). These worker-oriented parties would eventually morph into Labour.
Meanwhile Richard Seddon’s
health issues persisted and before long, tragically and suddenly, he succumbed
to them. In May, 1906 he travelled to Australia for what was meant to be (in
part) a rest from his gruelling schedule. But the Australian itinerary itself
was demanding. On 10 June, shortly after leaving Sydney on the way home he
suffered a fatal cardiac arrest. His final shipboard telegram read: “Just
leaving for God’s own country.”
The death was mourned
throughout the country and well beyond.
Seddon’s record of five
election wins gives him a unique place in this country’s political history. But
his administration was not just record-breaking in length but also innovative
and forward-thinking. Just as Julius Vogel before him had masterminded a huge
leap forward in roading, railways and general infrastructure in the 1870s (and
was the first to propose women’s suffrage), Seddon made his mark by blazing a
trail in social legislation, land laws and labour relations. He had his critics
and among his faults was an unwillingness to encourage strong people into his
parliamentary team and the wider party. This weakened the Liberals and they
never again reached the heights of the Seddon years.