Policy and Strategy of the New Zealand Labor Party

lHE election of i9ii iS a convenient point of departure for the modern history of New Zealand Labor. In that year the Reform (Conservative) Party began a term of office that lasted 20 years. The election was fought mainly on land tenure in agriculture. Prior to i9ii a large proportion of farm land belonged to the State and was held by farmers on perpetual leases at almost nominal rates, on the condition that they occupied and continued to improve the land. In this way the Seddon government had provided for a great many settlers who had little or no capital. At the same time the Liberals had introduced social and factory legislation that included universal pensions, the forty-four hour week, Arbitration Courts and recognition of unionism, together with a degree of State Socialism through Government ownership of railways, coal-mines, communications, and domination of banking, insurance and lending to settlers. The land policy proved to be the political weakness of the Liberals. Their opponents were able to swing the i9ii elections by bribing the numerous Crown tenants with the offer of freehold. This maneuver was made easy by the country quota, which put the farmer in a dominating position at the elections because the rural electorates were smaller than the urban by 28 per cent. The immediate effect of freehold was a great increase in farm indebtedness. Farmers were now able to mortgage the land which had formerly belonged to the State. The long-term effect was to pass State property over to private capitalists, though the immediate effect, in the io years following i9ii, was great prosperity for the farmers. The period coincided with the boom years for New Zealand exports. Farmers were able to speculate with their land on a large scale, and were tempted to capitalize far beyond limits set by subsequent price levels for land. Mortgages, from i840 to 19II

Economics · Political economy · Political science · Australian History and Society · Labor Movements and Unions · New Zealand Economic and Social Studies

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