1912: The Death of the Liberal Party

July 6, 2022

By AHNZ

Today in history, 6 July, 1912, the Liberal Party finally crashed and burned after a very protracted demise.

After ruling New Zealand for 22 years their goose was finally cooked. The way was open for a new leader and a new party to be in political control of the country; William Massey and Reform. Ref. 1913: The Great Strike Boogaloo, AHNZ

In simplistic contemporary terms, it was as if Labour had been in the Government for a generation and had finally become exhausted then replaced by a spirited new National Party. It all unfolded in the debating chamber of the House of Representatives and the Hansard record of those debates make interesting reading.

Liberal leaders such as Thomas Wilford and Joseph Ward basically begged the new incoming majority not to do what they had done. ‘Be evolutionary, not revolutionary’ they said. ‘Don’t take this opportunity to be nepotistic controlling autocrats,’ they pleaded. Now that the hunted became the hunters they were asked to offer a mercy that they had never been offered in all their years on the Opposition benches.
(This would not be forthcoming.)

“And now for our end as a party…shake free from the trammels of the past…New Zealand is sick to death of wrangling and petty personalities…this has to stop..” – Thomas Wilford at the fall of the Liberal Government, 1912

“The Liberals: A horrible bunch of wreckers leading New Zealand into Victimhood Culture.” – 1890: One Man, One Vote

“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’.” – 1893: The Death of Ballance

“Please heed the call. Don’t stand in the doorway, don’t block up the hall. For he that gets hurt will be he who has stalled the battle outside raging.” – The Times They Are A’Changing, Bob Dylan (1964)

Today in history the political penny dropped but that still left a population of New Zealanders who had been groomed and acclimated for an r-selected environment. For Victimhood Culture, for Slave Culture. Transitioning to a new kind of Conformity would be painful and those who would not move willingly would have to be thunked over the head by Massey’s Cossacks.

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Image ref. Wilford and a noose; Alexander Turnbull Library, AHNZ mod image

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