1893: The Death of Ballance
April 27, 2020
By AHNZ
Today in New Zealand History, 6.19pm, 27 April, 1893, Premier John Ballance died in office.
Ballance immigrated from Ireland in 1866 and set up his own newspaper, The Wanganui Herald, rising to power and renown. By 1875 he was an MP and soon became 2IC to Premier George Grey himself. Their platform relied greatly on appealing to the masses. Grey and Ballance wedged apart town and country, turning the townsfolk on the farmer with a view to championing them by busting up big estates.
Grey and Ballance had a falling out within a couple of years and lost their grip on power. However, when Ballance regained the initiative he continued implementing those same divisive policies he had perfected with his now rejected mentor. Special taxes were applied to suit the consumer products that Ballance and his Liberal Party’s voters liked best. Essentially, the Liberals made New Zealand into a haven for the r-selected and a hell for the K-selected members of our society. For this, Ballance was known as ‘The Rainmaker’.Ballance worked himself to death rather than back off and heal, not unlike his successor Norman Kirk. Surgery could not save him either and when the end came it was no great shock to the nation. As the following clip shows, the next Liberal to come along to fill the power vacuum was Richard Seddon– an even greater devious politician who had this added benefit of standing on the shoulders of two giants.
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Note 2022: Would I be out of line to suggest Ballance was the Vladimir Lenin of New Zealand? His untrusty lieutenant, Richard Seddon, quickly plotted to be top man and get rid of the other contenders. So then, that would make our socialist turn-of-the-century Premier the Stalin of New Zealand.
Ref. 1878: Premier George Grey’s Tour
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