The Liberals take power
- When
- 1891–1912
- Reach
- Nationwide
The world’s first organised political party to hold national office began two decades of reform that made New Zealand a byword for social experiment.
Under John Ballance and then Richard Seddon the Liberals broke up the great estates through land tax and compulsory purchase, gave women the vote, introduced compulsory industrial arbitration and old-age pensions, and expanded state lending. Overseas observers called New Zealand the social laboratory of the world. The reforms did not extend to Māori land policy, where purchase continued.
Regions affected
Sources
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Related
The provinces are abolished
Nine provincial governments were swept away and replaced by central government plus counties and boroughs — the shape of local government for the next century.
New Zealand Constitution Act
Representative government arrived, divided into six provinces — and the property franchise excluded almost all Māori, who held land communally.
The first Labour government
Michael Joseph Savage led Labour to a landslide and built the welfare state: state houses, guaranteed prices, free health care and a 40-hour week.
WellingtonNew Zealand votes for MMP
By 54 to 46 percent, voters replaced first-past-the-post with mixed-member proportional representation — largely as a punishment for a decade of unmandated reform.