Slipping colonial shackles in 1907
IN 1907, New Zealanders decided it was time to grow up.
Having been a colony for more than 60 years, it was starting to feel a bit like the ‘‘little tail of a great dog’’, as The Evening Post put it.
Two larger, older ‘‘white’’ colonies of the British Empire were on their way to becoming fully fledged nations, and New Zealand started to feel it should join them.
One way of showing increased standing in the world of the 1900s was to change from being called a colony to becoming a dominion, a term which had been coined for self-government in Canada and later applied to the newly federated Commonwealth of Australia.
The New Zealand prime minister of the time, Sir Joseph Ward, was a shadow of his predecessor Richard Seddon, but he was an effective negotiator.
Ward, a waffly man who lacked Seddon’s ability to connect with ordinary people, despite coming from humble origins, was determined New Zealand would get its due. He lobbied the British government hard for the privilege. Ward was particularly concerned that people overseas thought New Zealand was part of Australia – something which can still irk today.
Not everyone thought the move was necessary, though. The leader of the opposition, future prime minister William Massey, felt it would just mean more demands on the public purse, increased salaries for jumped-up government officials and a raft of administrative costs.
Some thought it was all just cosmetic and didn’t really mean anything, while others wanted to use a different name, including some bizarre ones, such as ‘‘autonomate’’.
One letter-writer to The Evening Post thought colony had a better ring to it than dominion anyway. ‘‘[Dominion] indicates a condition of servitude and to be called by such a term implies that we are begging.’’
But Ward was determined, and he got what he wanted. On July 12, Parliament passed a request to the king for New Zealand to become a dominion.
Britain granted the request, and on September 10 the country was told it was now a dominion.
The Evening Post had not been too bothered about the name, but ‘‘looked on the bright side’’ – specifically, that it meant the country was equal to the other ‘‘white’’ colonies.
‘‘There are still believed to be intelligent persons in London who believe New Zealanders to be all black – a delusion to which the title adopted by our victorious football team gave wider currency.’’
The plan was for a national holiday on September 26 to celebrate, though some businessmen prated there were too many holidays already. In