WATERHOUSE, GEORGE MARSDEN (1824-1906) was born at Penzance, Cornwall, the sixth son of the Rev John Waterhouse (d. 30 Mar 1842), afterwards general superintendent of Wesleyan missions in Australia and Polynesia. He was educated at the Wesleyan College at Kingswood, near Bristol, England, and came to Tasmania with his father in 1839. Obtaining his first post in a merchant's office in Hobart, he paid a visit to north Auckland in Mar 1842 and took note of the promise of New Zealand. In 1843 he went into business on his own account in Adelaide, and by 1851 was in a position to retire.

South Australia was faced at the moment with the duty of electing members to the first partially-representative Legislative Council. Within a few days of the poll, one of the candidates for East Torrens was suddenly called away from the colony. He introduced Waterhouse as his substitute. With a 'singularly ready delivery, without note or comment' Waterhouse expounded his political views, including abolition of state aid to religion, extended suffrage, vote by ballot, curtailment of the governor's financial prerogative, triennial elections, popular education and Bible-reading in schools - a very complete platform for a New Zealand Liberal 30 years later. He promised that when the first session was over he would call his constituents together and would not return to the Council without their approval. He was elected (Jul 1851) and sat until Jun 1854, when he resigned with the intention of going abroad. In 1852 he was for a short time a member of the central board of education but he retired when he found his views at variance with those of the majority. Waterhouse in 1855 visited the United States, where he broached in public his views on reciprocal trade between that country and the British colonies. He also visited Great Britain. He was one of the three members of the board charged with supplying drainage and water to the city of Adelaide (1856). This post he resigned when he was returned, at the first elections under responsible government, to represent East Torrens in the House of Assembly. His health, which suffered much in the heat of South Australia, caused him to resign once more (Sep 1857); but next year he was again in public service as chairman of the commission of waterworks. Unable to refrain from politics, he was again elected to the Legislative Council (Apr 1860) at the head of the poll. His main planks on this occasion were free-trade, law reform, non-payment of members and the disfranchisement of officeholders from Parliament. Waterhouse took a leading position in the Council, and in May joined the Reynolds ministry as Chief Secretary. Once more ill-health called upon him to resign. The Advertiser at this time found him 'lacking those qualities that ordinarily arouse public enthusiasm,' but distinguished by firmness, urbanity, high principle, clear-sightedness and persevering devotedness to the business of the country. He was chairman of the committee to recommend improvements in the real property acts, a matter in which he was afterwards active in New Zealand. When the Reynolds ministry was disrupted Waterhouse formed a government to carry on while a question of maladministration was being investigated. Nine days later, again as Chief Secretary, he formed his second ministry, which held office from Oct 1861 to Jul 1863. When the opposition pressed the government so hard that the Speaker's casting vote was necessary to save it from defeat, Waterhouse resigned. He seems to have left the colony soon after. In order to save expense, the resignation of his seat (dated Dec 1863) was not made known until a year later. He was still for a year or two a director of the South Australian Banking Co. In Jun 1865 he presided at a meeting of pastoralists asking for a reclassification of their runs. He again visited England during this period. Waterhouse first appears in New Zealand in Jan 1869, when he purchased for £21,000 cash the whole of the Huangarua station of 20,000 acres in south Wairarapa, with 18,000 sheep. It was originally settled by Clifford and Weld, and was worked for 20 years by Smith and Revans. After paying a deposit for a further 2,462 acres of government land (in the Wharekaka block), he sailed for England to purchase grass-seed, material for fencing, and other implements. While there he wrote much to the press on the marketing of New Zealand produce and the treatment and shipping of flax, tallow and skins. He also intervened in politics by writing to Lord Granville a dignified and carefully-worded protest against the withdrawal of British troops from New Zealand. He declared that he was 'thoroughly satisfied that, arduous as was the task before them, the Colonial forces would succeed in bringing the present conflict to a successful issue,' but the withdrawal of the troops might cause the natives to think that Britain was no longer behind the Colonial government. 'It is my duty to add,' he said, 'that if these troops be withdrawn the blood of thousands of your fellow countrymen may lie at your door, and England may witness the destruction of a thriving colony.' Granville replied that the decision, which had been anticipated by the New Zealand government for years, was not taken without due consideration. On his return to New Zealand Waterhouse brought a number of Australian birds which he hoped to acclimatise. It was an anxious time for pastoralists. No sooner had he landed than he found that the scab had invaded his flock of 25,000 sheep. In 1869 he erected works for dealing with surplus stock and tallow.

Though he was engrossed in his own affairs, the politics of the day sadly needed men of his stamp, and Waterhouse could not long refrain from participating. While he was still in England Revans (q.v.) suggested him as a suitable representative for the Wairarapa district, but he was called to the more agreeable atmosphere of the Legislative Council (May 1870) by Fox, who had met him in Australia and fully appreciated his qualities. Waterhouse took his advent to New Zealand politics with accustomed seriousness. A sagacious adviser, a clear thinker of moderate views, a champion of democratic rights and a stickler for the purity of Parliament, he very soon made a place for himself in New Zealand politics. The standard of Parliament was not high when he made his appearance. The Legislative Council was distinctly weak: and throughout his association with it he fought for its privileges and dignity. Gisborne says that he had a great reverence for forms and precedents and for the ancient ways and constitutional principles. He took a leading part in fixing the forms and privileges of the Council and defending it against encroachment, but he had no desire to usurp any of the rights of the other House. On principle he objected to the payment of members, yet when he had been a few years in New Zealand he confessed to a change of faith on finding that the Council was nominated exclusively from the propertied class. It was wrong that it should represent only one class, and if members representing other classes could not maintain themselves in proper condition they were entitled to an honorarium. Himself a man of means, he never accepted salary even when holding a portfolio; and he incurred criticism for devoting his honorarium to the establishment of a library at Greytown. As member of Parliament and of the Lower Valley board of wardens (to which he was elected in Jul 1870), he was invited to associate himself with the request for a railway into the Wairarapa. Though it could not run within 10 miles of his property, he declined to take any part in the movement, since it would be 'indecorous that it should even be said that he was influenced by local or personal considerations.' His fine punctilio disapproved of the public nomination of candidates at the hustings, and favoured the ballot election. When Waterhouse entered Parliament the country was excited and intrigued by Vogel's policy of immigration and public works. The aggressiveness of that rising politician, his overbearing methods, his disregard for the ordinary rules of administration, and his looseness in the expenditure of public moneys were alarming and distasteful to Waterhouse. He watched jealously each new assault on the rights of Parliament and fought against it with all the conviction of his experience and his political principles. Though he disliked the idea of office for himself, he moved aptly to a position of leadership in the Council. In spite of the presence of Sewell as government representative, Waterhouse took charge of measures dealing with real property, intestate estates, diseased cattle and land transfer, with all of which he was familiar in South Australia. He was chairman of the waste lands committee in 1871. Late in the session, as the position of Sewell became more strained, Fox pressed Waterhouse to join the cabinet. He had misgivings as to being able to work smoothly with Vogel, and resisted as long as he could. Eventually he agreed (30 Oct 1871) to conduct the government business in the Council as a member of the executive. That merely regularised the position which he had exercised for some time owing (as Sewell said) to his wide experience, his acumen and his lawyer-like mind. Waterhouse accepted with a protest. 'The happiest day in my short connection with ministerial affairs' he said, 'will be when I lay down the office I have assumed, and when I see the conduct of the country in the hands of gentlemen devoting all their time and energies to public business, and following a plan of conduct calculated to ensure the administration of affairs on a satisfactory basis.' The Council had never before been led in the same sense as Waterhouse led it. He not only strengthened its place in the constitution, but tightened up its standing orders, especially with regard to attendance of members. He was too wise a parliamentarian to make any undue claims for the upper house. Not only did he surrender the claim for financial authority, but when the public trust bill - one of the first socialistic measures passed in New Zealand - had been before the people and approved by them, he was not prepared to stand in the way of the public giving effect to their wishes, though he believed that this sort of legislation would destroy their self-reliance and have a bad influence on the legal profession.

The deciding factor in the political career of Waterhouse was his relationship with Vogel. To a certain extent they could work together cordially enough. Waterhouse approved the immigration and public works policy, and skilfully piloted the bill through the Council (Nov 1871). They also agreed on the abolition of the provinces. 'I detest the idea of being an inhabitant of a parish,' said Waterhouse in 1870, 'with all the narrow views of those who never look beyond the borders of a parish. I wish to be a member of the Colony, to get rid of the feeling that I am simply the inhabitant of a province. We are all parts of one great whole. Let us look at matters, therefore, from a colonial and not from a narrow provincial point of view.' As soon as the session was over Waterhouse retired from the executive to give his full attention to his own affairs. His extensive property demanded constant oversight. He had miles of fencing to carry out in subdividing the estate, and he purchased another property of over 2,000 acres on the East Coast. As a director of the Wairarapa Meat Preserving Co., he persuaded the board to adopt a system of salting meat for export, and he was personally interested in boiling-down works for the disposal of aged and cull sheep. He was constantly on guard against scab and wild dogs, both at Huangarua and Tiraumea. He imported regular consignments of stud sheep (mainly Lincolns), and in 1871 exhibited at the first show at Masterton.

His association with the Government in 1871 had not allayed Waterhouse's distrust of its methods. The next session opened (Jul 1872) without provision having been made for the leadership of the Council, and he conceived that the Government, fearing that the Council might try to tone down its policy, was determined to ignore it. When he was invited to resume his position of the previous session, he replied demanding that the position and status of ministers should be defined by statute, and he appealed personally to Hall, who was then appointed to the Council to carry through government business, to assist in remedying the loose system. He objected to the making and annulling of ministerial office at the will of the Government, and to the closing of great financial contracts without consulting Parliament. Nor was Waterhouse the only one who objected to the new way of administering the affairs of the country. Criticism culminated on 5 Sep 1872 when the Government was defeated on a want-of-confidence motion. Discussing the position a month earlier, Waterhouse had remarked to Stafford that he had an almost insuperable objection to taking office, and would only be persuaded to do so if he saw a chance of increasing the efficiency of the government and of the civil service. Now that the question arose Stafford, believing that he had agreed to join him, was astounded when Waterhouse, with great pain and not without some degree of self-reproach, declined to join the ministry. He questioned his ability to yield his views to that of his colleagues. In fact, he was no party man, and he had a rooted objection to joining any party. 'No consideration whatever will induce me,' he remarked three days later, 'to identify myself with any party or any administration. The only necessity I will ever recognise for taking an active part in the administration of the country is one which fortunately is not likely to arise as regards a member of this branch of the Legislature.' He sternly rebuked Sewell for his haste in taking office, and added: 'The character of our public men is the property of the Colony. Upon the respect in which they are held proportionately is the influence public men will possess.' Jealous always of the integrity of Parliament, and fearing a deadlock between the two houses, he introduced a motion to make the Legislative Council also elective. Within a fortnight the Government was defeated on a motion proposed by Vogel, who was naturally called upon to form a Government. Vogel appreciated the necessity for colleagues who would lend weight and stability to his administration, and accordingly invited Waterhouse to be Premier. To the amazement of the country Waterhouse accepted. He met Parliament on 11 Oct in the unique position of a Premier without portfolio, without salary and without a seat in the popular chamber. He proposed, he said, to give his whole time to the work, assisting his colleagues with their departments so as to save them loss by the neglect of their business. Having left South Australia for the express purpose of escaping from an active political life, he said, no person could be more astonished than himself to find that here in his new home he was placed in a position where responsibility could scarcely be avoided; but he felt that he would permanently injure his usefulness as a public man if he continued to decline office. 'I have not accepted the position without deliberation, and I will not resign it with rashness.' At that very moment Vogel was telling the other chamber that he, not Waterhouse, had formed the Government, thus sowing in the public mind the seeds of the insidious belief that it was only a pseudo-premiership. Sewell criticised the inconvenience of having the Premier in the Legislative Council and the invidiousness of his not receiving a salary; but the Council, fearing that Waterhouse would resign, rejected the motion. Even before the end of the session the inconvenience and the sham of his position were abundantly evident. He held the shadow of power; Vogel the substance. His position in the ministry was anomalous. 'Their political temperaments were irreconcilable with one another,' remarks a chronicler, 'They did not probably agree in many political views, and certainly they did not agree in the measures to be taken to give practical effect to their general views.' Though his objections were natural enough, Waterhouse incurred criticism for the manner in which he severed the knot while Vogel was away from New Zealand. Governor Bowen was farewelled officially on 20 Feb 1873, some days before he was to sail for England. Hall resigned his portfolio on the same day, and Waterhouse, feeling that this materially affected his position as a member of the Legislative Council and as a minister, offered his own resignation to Bowen. In the hope that the crisis would not delay his departure from the Colony, the Governor withheld the news, and summoned Fox to town to try to heal the breach. Waterhouse denied that the resignation of the whole ministry was involved: since Vogel had formed it he could quite well appoint another colonial secretary. The Governor refused to give way until Waterhouse forbade the captain of the Government steamer to sail with Bowen without his (Waterhouse's) express authority. Bowen was defeated, and had to call upon Fox to form a ministry. Fox agreed out of deference to the Governor, but on the strict understanding that he would resign as soon as Vogel returned to New Zealand. Writing to Vogel on the subject (4 Feb 1873), Waterhouse said: 'I have felt throughout that you have regarded yourself as the actual and me as the nominal Premier; and the strength of your will and the advantage arising from your having formed the ministry have given you an influence in the ministry which is fatal to my exerting the influence attached to my office as Premier. We have been cast in different moulds, and cannot with mutual satisfaction run in harness together.' Waterhouse did not at once recover from the loss of prestige due to this surprising incursion into office. He remained a private member of Parliament until 1890, attending regularly to his duties until his departure from the Colony. In the political uncertainties of 1879 it was freely suggested that he would return to office as leader of a 'rescue party'; but he had no such ideas. Except for the session of 1887 (Apr-Sep), when he was Speaker of the Legislative Council in the absence of Fitzherbert, he remained a private member. He had ample other employment for his talents. In 1872-73 he was a member of the Wellington education board. In 1873 he was elected to the committee of the Wellington benevolent institution. In 1876 he was appointed, with Travers and Hector, a governor of the New Zealand Institute. He spent more and more of his time in Wellington, and in 1878, having extended his property at Tiraumea and Whareama, he sold his Huangarua estate to the Hon. J. Martin (q.v.). He visited England again on several occasions, and in 1888 left the Colony for good to reside in Devon, where he died on 6 Aug 1906.

The significance of Waterhouse in the political history of New Zealand has not yet been appreciated. Coming to the Colony with ripe knowledge and judgment and a wide experience of the world, he soon acquired a masterly grip of its affairs. He was not the type of man to succeed at the hustings or to win honours in a democracy. He clung fondly to the older traditions of parliamentary life, and added dignity to its councils by his lofty and logical speeches. Gisborne says that he was not likely to take any course without previous careful consideration. He searched into the depths of everything, sparing no pains to become master of it. His speeches were philosophical and persuasive, 'appealing to the reason, but incapable of creating enthusiasm.' Waterhouse was one of the first premiers in New Zealand to express definite views on Imperial or foreign affairs. At the moment of his arrival in the Colony he was stirred to indignation by what he characterised as the 'cold-blooded and unnatural conduct' of the Mother country towards this Colony, and he advocated fostering closer relations with the United States since England had abrogated her position. Again he reverted to this matter in supporting the reciprocal trade bill of that session. While in South Australia he brought forward the question of reciprocal relations amongst the colonies, and it was remitted to the conference at Melbourne in 1863. Waterhouse regarded the great remoteness of New Zealand from the 'pulse and heart of civilisation' as a calamity that dwarfed ideas and tended to injure the prospects of prosperity. At the same time he saw the danger to young colonies of dissipating their energy in oversea adventures. Though he voted in favour of a resolution in 1871 regarding British sovereignty in Samoa, he warned the New Zealanders against using their skill and energy in foreign and extraneous matters.

App. H.R., 1873 A. 1a; N.Z.P.D., 17 Jun, 15 Jul, 11 Aug, 9 Sep 1870, 17 Aug, 30 Oct, 7 Nov 1871, 22 Jul, 7 Aug 1872, 10, 17, 29 Sep 1872, 18 Oct 1872, 5 Oct 1875; Archives of South Australia; South Aust. Leg. Assembly Proc.; Buller; Gisborne (p); Rusden; Saunders ii (p); Reeves; Loyau; Mennell; Cox; Independent, 16 Jan, 12 Oct 1869; Scholefield in Evening Post, 4 Aug 1934 (p); Otago Daily Times, 7 Jul 1884. Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 2, page 237

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