Amber Blanco White

“ His republican views had undergone modification, and in March 1891 he was appointed a delegate to the federation convention held in Sydney, in spite of Sir Henry Parkes' s objection on the ground of his republican sympathies. On 23 Oct. 1891, on the defeat of Sir Henry Parkes's ministry, Sir George Dibbs became, for a third time, premier and colonial secretary. In June 1892 he visited England as premier of his colony and on a special mission to reassure London capitalists of the financial stability not only of New South Wales but of Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania, and New Zealand. ”

“ In 1890 he represented New Zealand at Melbourne, at the first conference on Australasian federation. In 1893 he introduced into the ministry's electoral bill an amendment conferring the vote upon women, a reform which he had always actively supported. It was passed into law on the eve of the general election. In 1905 he was chosen master of the Leathersellers' Company in London, but was unable to leave New Zealand to take the office. In 1906, the year of the New Zealand exhibition, he became first mayor of Greater Christchurch. ”

“ At the general election in December 1890 the liberal party secured a large majority, and in January 1891 Seddon joined Ballance's cabinet as minister for mines, public works, and defence.
In office Seddon at once distinguished himself. He stopped the sub-letting of government contracts, and introduced a system of letting government work in small sections to co-operative parties of workmen, a system which proved successful and was adopted in other colonies. In the country he strengthened his position by constant speaking in different places. ”

“ He attacked the distribution of 60,000,000 acres of land in Victoria among a thousand squatters, who paid a rent of 201. apiece, and he denounced the monopoly of the importers, which made local industries impossible and denied work to skilled artisan immigrants. The diminution in the output of gold threatened in these circumstances to drive from the colony the poorer population. Syme in his paper boldly urged a programme which included the opening of the land to small farmers and a system of protective duties on imports, a policy which none in Australia suggested before him. ”

“ On 13 Dec. 1905 he fought his last general election, and his fifth as premier, securing, in a house of seventy-six white members, a majority of thirty-six. He remained minister of defence, labour, education, and immigration, and colonial treasurer, as well as premier. Later in the year he recommended a larger contribution to naval defence, forbade the admission of Japanese to the colony, promised to reduce indirect taxation and to increase the graduated land tax, and announced a larger surplus than had been known before. ”

“ Seddon joined the latter section, known as the Young New Zealand reform party. The conservative government could retain office only by introducing liberal bills. Seddon carefully studied parliamentary procedure, and his readiness of speech enabled him to practise obstruction on a formidable scale. From 1884, when a liberal government was formed under Sir Robert Stout, Seddon introduced many private bills which he succeeded in passing at a later period. ”

“ The ministry meanwhile was busy with land legislation of great importance and with its programme of social reform. Economic conditions were improving, and general confidence in the government was strong. On 6 Sept. 1891 Ballance fell ill, and owing to Seddon's mastery of parliamentary procedure he became acting premier in the premier's brief absence. On 3 June 1892 he became minister for marine, and on 1 May 1893, on Ballance's death, he became premier, retaining at the same time the portfolios of public works, mines, and defence. ”

“ M'KENZIE, Sir JOHN (1836–1901) , minister of lands in New Zealand, born at Ardross, Rossshire, Scotland, in 1836, was son of a farmer. After education at the parish school he worked on his father's farm. In 1860 he emigrated to Otago, New Zealand, and became working manager of the Pakitapu station near Palmerston. ”

“ Pledged to carry out his predecessor's policy, he accepted and carried the measure for conferring the parliamentary vote on women, although he personally disapproved of women's entry into the political sphere (19 Sept.) . Other important acts passed by his government during this year were one simplifying and consolidating the criminal code, and another creating a form of local option to control the liquor traffic. At the general election of November 1893 Seddon's party was returned with a majority of thirty-four in a house which contained seventy white members. ”

“ At forty years of age he began his political career, advocating republicanism and free trade. He was one of the leading members of the Public Schools League, which championed free compulsory and secular education in state primary schools. In 1874 he was elected one of the members for West Sydney of the legislative assembly of New South Wales. In 1877 he was defeated, but in 1882 was returned for St. Leonards. In January 1883 he became treasurer and colonial secretary in the ministry of Sir Alexander Stuart [q.v.] ”

“ Although if he had been on the spot he might have prevented a conflict, he considered himself committed to the policy of his colleagues, and continued to support the continuance of the war until 1870, when peace was finally assured. In July 1861 Sir William Fox defeated the Stafford ministry by one vote on a general vote of confidence, and at the same time Governor Gore Browne was replaced by Sir George Grey. When Fox resigned in 1862 Stafford refused to form a ministry, and he remained out of office until 1865. ”

“ He transferred the land revenue and part of the customs revenue to the provincial councils by Act of Parliament, and since the home government had refused to allow a bill to this effect, he made arrangements by which the councils were virtually placed in control of their own land. ”

“ From 1864 he was employed as a journeyman fitter in the railway workshops of the Victoria government at Williamstown. But in 1866 he was persuaded by an uncle, who had settled on the west coast of New Zealand, to try his luck anew at the old Six Mile diggings at Waimea. ”

“ His mother's cousin was Patrick Fraser Tytler [q. v.] , and on early visits to Edinburgh he joined a cultured circle which widened for life his intellectual interests. Educated at Trinity College, Dublin, he emigrated in January 1843 to Nelson, New Zealand, where he at once took part in public affairs. In 1853, when provincial councils were called into existence by Sir George Grey [q. v. Suppl. I] , Stafford was chosen to be superintendent of Nelson. ”

“ In a series of enactments having what he termed a ’himianistic' basis, of which the chief was an act for the erection of state-owned workmen's dwellings, he sought to improve the health and comfort of the working-classes, particularly of mothers and young children. ”

“ Summoned straightway to the east coast to oppose Te Kooti, who, after some fresh successes, had fortified himself in a pa on the crest of a hill called Ngatapa, Whitmore joined forces with the friendly natives and invested the pa, which after five days' siege fell on 3 January 1869; 136 Hau-Haus were killed, but Te Kooti escaped. This was the last important engagement fought in New Zealand. Whitmore left Ropata, the leader of the friendly Maoris, to deal with Te Kooti, and returned to Wanganui to pursue Titokowaru. ”

“ In 1894 he devised a scheme for helping the unemployed to get on to the land by setting them to clear forest land and prepare it for cultivation. While thus engaged the men gained both capital and experience, and when the land was cleared they were allowed to lease it on favourable terms. M'Kenzie also instituted a successful system of advancing loans to settlers on the security of their farms. ”

“ In 1865 he became clerk and treasurer to the local road board, and secretary to the local school committee. In 1868 he was an unsuccessful candidate for the provincial council of Otago, but in 1871 he won the seat for Waihemo, which he retained until the abolition of the provinces in 1875. ”

“ In 1877 he published 'Outlines of an Industrial Science,' an exposition of protection which has since become a text-book, and in 1882 ’Representative Government in England,' a discussion of cabinet government and the party system, in which he advocates elective ministries and a system under which constituents should be able to dismiss their members without waiting for an election. ”

“ He served as a volunteer in the hon. artillery company and as a special constable during the Chartist riots of 1848.
In 1852 he emigrated to Lyttelton, New Zealand, bought a neighbouring sheep run, and remained a prominent citizen of the province of Canterbury for the rest of his life. ”

“ In 1866 the firm became bankrupt on the failure of the Agra bank. Later the creditors were paid in full, and Dibbs & Co. became one of the foremost firms in Sydney. In 1868 he toured through Europe and the British Isles. ”

“ From 18 October 1877 to October 1879 he was colonial secretary and defence minister under Sir George Grey. In 1879 he went to Taranaki with Grey and the governor to deal with the disturbance created by Te Whiti. ”

“ On 25 Oct. 1902 he was back in New Zealand. On 26 Nov. a new election gave him a majority of twenty, and he added the ministries of immigration and education to his other offices. Next year, while speaking repeatedly on the prosperity of the colony, he flung himself into ardent support of Mr. Chamberlain's scheme of imperial tariff reform. Naval defence also found in him a strong champion, and in the autmnn of 1903 he passed a naval defence bill which laid an annual charge of 40,000l. on New Zealand for the Australian squadron. ”

“ He began work to this end in 1893 by starting a fast line of steamers, the Canadian-Australian Royal Mail Steamship line, which ran between Sydney and Vancouver. The next step was a fast line between Canada and this country. ”