More Info →1912 - a lurch from left to right 13 Jan 2012

Description

1912 was a very big year for New Zealand, to historians, a turning point for our nation.

Two events stand out – the change of government, and the Public Service Act.

The change of Government was remarkable because it saw a "leftish" administration replaced by a "rightish" one, as farmer William Massey took over from liberal Joseph Ward after a vote of no confidence was carried.

Manawatu and Horowhenua, both having strong rural economies, had many angry farmers. They were angry at the expanding public service: taxes were funding bureaucracy, red tape was strangling society and central government was taking over – as they saw it. And they had a point.

The "leftish" Liberals had created 12 new Government departments as they set about handling the 'golden age' of farming.

Refrigeration now meant Manawatu and Horowhenua were exporting greater volumes of dairy products – butter and cheese – under the Guaranteed Price system.

Britain took almost 80 per cent of it, and their manpower shortages, because of looming World War I (1914-18), were to create an even greater demand. But this meant paperwork: legislation and regulations, reports and statistics, committees, inspectors, controllers and clerks.

On the left, Labour was gathering strength, particularly radical leftists like the "Red Feds", who talked (and produces) strike action. The newly formed Labour Party had grown out of the West Coast Miners Union; the Waihi Miners' Strike led to "mayhem and murder", some said.

Locally, farmers were worried. Strong action was needed if stability was to be ensured.

Ironically, it was the much-scorned Public Servants who were to provide it. Edward Tregear, our first Secretary of Labour – a "free thinking socialist" – was the sole employee when appointed in 1891.

By 1912, the Labour Department had a staff of over 100. But Tregear – later a member of the Labour Party – had helped design landmark legislation, defining (and controlling) the 'big three': Conditions, Employment and Relations.

Education, too, which had been a local matter, was now taken over by central government; so was health, as the Public Service grew. But they needed skilled workers, as even former Premier Richard 'King Dick' Seddon has learnt. When told that a man he had recommended for a Public Service job could not read or write properly, Seddon's answer was simple: "learn him".

The point was made: public servants were needed, even if they had to be trained. Because the expanding system needed to operate efficiently of the country was to harness the boom in farming exports.

As for the "Big Three" – conditions of work are taken for granted today, employment is constantly under the media microscope but sadly, industrial relations still features disharmony. Marton's meat works and the Auckland Waterfront are two examples.

However the policy positions of 1912 aet firm choices in place for voters; the Public Service Act gave us the machinery to manage the economy and as we look ahead to our next 100 years perhaps those two words still ring true for the 43 per cent of us with literacy and numeracy needs: learn him.

Identification

Date

January 13, 2012