BALLANCE, JOHN (1839-93) was born at Glenavy, county Antrim, Ireland, on 27 Mar 1839, his father being Samuel Ballance, a farmer, and his mother Mary McNiece, a Quaker. The Ballances settled in Ireland in Cromwell's time and his grandfather, John, was wounded in fighting in the village during the rising of 1798. Ballance was educated in the local national school and was brought up on the farm until the age of 14, when he was apprenticed to an ironmonger in Belfast. His departure four years later to Birmingham to take up a post in the same trade was the turning point in his life. He now travelled widely in England and studied deeply at the evening classes of the Midlands Institute; attended many of the political meetings for which Birmingham was then famous, and as a member of the literary society (of which he was secretary) took a prominent part in the debates and was a successful chess player. His main athletic exercise at this time was boxing. In 1865, when 26 years of age, Ballance came to New Zealand, crossing from Melbourne in the Albion. While in Australia he made contacts in the belief that he would be able to enter into some sort of business in his new home, and purchased jewellery and other goods with which he stocked a small shop in Taupo Quay, Wanganui. He also took up a small piece of land. He soon found time on his hands which he employed congenially in writing to the local newspapers (the Chronicle and the Wanganui Times, both bi-weeklies). By this means, and by becoming a member of the Wanganui Literary society (1866), he aired his views, which were distinctly liberal. The shop did not flourish and Ballance joined a partner in starting a brewery; but new avenues of activity soon opened up. Discontented with participating in journalism only as a free lance, he gathered a small amount of capital and credit, purchased from John Martin the plant of a newspaper which had closed down, and announced his intention of starting a new journal in Wanganui. On 4 Jun 1867 the Wanganui Herald made its appearance as a penny evening paper. The first partnership did not last long and Ballance then took in as a practical printer A. D. Willis (q.v.), who had been with the Chronicle. The Maori war on the West Coast was now a serious factor in the prosperity of Wanganui and Ballance helped to found the Wanganui Cavalry, of which he was a member. The services of this corps were accepted on 25 Jul 1868, and it was called out for active service on 30 Nov, two days before the date of Ballance's cornetcy. His comments on military policy in the columns of the Herald, in which he described the calling-out of the corps as a senseless scare, brought him into conflict with the military authorities, and he was put under arrest by Colonel Gorton and ordered for court-martial. At this stage Ballance recognised his error, made a due apology and returned to duty, but his commission was cancelled. He served in the field at Weraroa (where he was one of Whitmore's escort), Wairoa and Nukumaru, and for his courageous conduct at Nukumaru was promoted corporal. After the war the Herald lost a good deal of money and Ballance paid out his partner, thereafter running the paper himself. He first essayed to enter politics in 1873, when he stood for the Egmont constituency, but retired in favour of Harry Atkinson, who was thus able to defeat Moorhouse. Two years later he entered upon parliamentary life, defeating W. H. Watt and W. Hutchison for the Rangitikei seat. At the outset he was a supporter of Atkinson, with whom he was at one on the provincial question. He strongly advocated the abolition of the provinces and proposed a system of municipalities elected on a special franchise. In 1876 he was re-elected (defeating James Bull). In the ensuing Parliament Ballance found himself drawn towards the Liberal party of the future. He met Grey and Stout and became immediate friends with them, particularly Stout. He supported Vogel on the abolition of the provinces, but did not come into close association with him. His decision as to party allegiance was finally made in 1877, when he wrote to Atkinson stating that he was withdrawing his support from the Government on account of its native land policy, which he considered was enriching the few at the expense of the natives and the Colony. He then definitely threw in his lot with Grey, separating from Atkinson and his colleague Bryce. Public life was now making demands on his time and he found it necessary to appoint an editor to look after the paper during his absence in Wellington. He accordingly took in John Notman as a partner, thus freeing himself for work that was becoming daily more urgent. He was chairman of the Wanganui harbour board. When Parliament met in 1877 the Atkinson Government was defeated and Grey took office. Ballance was not in the ministry, but he was obviously a coming man. A fluent and thoughtful speaker, a vigorous debater with a pleasing, courteous personality, he was a tower of strength to Grey's Government. On 12 Jan 1878 he was sworn in as Commissioner of Customs and Minister of Education, and on 18 Apr he became also Commissioner of Stamp Duties. Then on 12 Jul, when Larnach left for England, he took office as Colonial Treasurer. In his first financial statement he embodied one of the leading planks of Liberal policy, the tax on unimproved values. In Jul 1879, before Parliament met, Ballance and Grey had a serious personal disagreement arising (it is believed) from a criticism of Grey in Ballance's paper. As a result Ballance resigned (30 Jan 1879). The difference was not a serious one, and Grey offered to apologise, but Ballance refused to withdraw his resignation, feeling that he could only remain in the cabinet by the humiliation of his leader, to which he would not consent. Thus at a critical period of its history the new Liberal party was robbed of the services of one of its most able administrators, for Grey himself was hopelessly inept at departmental management. It was a serious blow to Grey. With financial troubles growing daily, cabinet discontent rife and native disaffection threatening, he was called upon to administer the Treasury. The land tax was replaced by a property tax. At the general election Ballance stood as a Liberal for Wanganui and was returned, with Bryce as his colleague (Bryce 560; Ballance 547; Fox 501). His personal victory was not a satisfactory one, inasmuch as Fox's defeat was due mainly to the opposition of the Roman Catholics. The liberal Government being defeated and practically disbanded by the dethronement of the leader, the fortunes of the party were guarded in the next Parliament mainly by Macandrew, Montgomery and Ballance. Meanwhile the native crisis had come to a head, and Hall, after trying to avoid it and jettisoning Bryce, had to accept his policy. The expedition to Parihaka resulted in Te Whiti (q.v.) being put beyond the power of making further trouble. In the flush of this event the Government went to the country. Bryce was the hero of the hour. Ballance had the misfortune to be opposed in a single electorate by W. H. Watt, who defeated him by four votes only. Freed of Parliamentary duties, he devoted more attention to the newspaper, of which he was now editor and manager and sole proprietor. In Oct 1882 he floated the business into a company. At the general election of 1884 Ballance was returned at the head of the poll, defeating Hutchison and Watt. He took the portfolios of Native Minister and Minister of Defence in the Stout-Vogel cabinet, which held office for only a fortnight. When it came back again (in Sep) Ballance was entrusted with these same offices and also with lands and immigration, and he entered with vigour upon perhaps the most constructive period of his departmental administration. The country was in the depth of a depression which had already defied the ingenuity of several administrations. Ballance approached it from the angle of a new land policy which would put unemployed men on land as peasant farmers, with perpetual leases granted by the crown and organised in state aided village settlements. Towards the natives, despondent still after the wars and sullenly opposed to the advance of settlement in the centre of the North Island, he adopted a policy of conciliation which extended even to such men as Te Kooti and Te Rerenga, Tawhiao and Rewi. He visited most of them at their homes, and soon felt justified in disbanding the Armed Constabulary and installing civil police in Maori districts. The setting aside as a national park of 60,000 acres, including Tongariro and Ruapehu, symbolised the better understanding which his sympathetic policy produced. From the defence point of view, with the Russian war scare as an incentive, he stimulated the patriotism of the people to promote volunteering and show a vigorous self-reliance. The Government was defeated on its financial proposals in 1887, and Ballance now became the leader of the liberals in opposition, though this position was not formally recognised until 1889. Atkinson, struggling manfully with the depression, could not stem the tide of unpopularity which ran inevitably against the cautious budgeteer. Ballance was confident of the superiority of his political programme and threw himself with energy into the election campaign in 1890. The rising Labour party, which had become conscious in the maritime strike, threw in its lot with the liberals, and the electors on 18 Dec gave their verdict against the Government in power. Instead of resigning or at once calling Parliament, the defeated ministry proposed to carry on until the normal time for the session, and recommended the appointment of six new members to the Legislative Council. The Liberal leaders protested to Governor Onslow against the appointments, but he replied that it was already done and that he was responsible only to the Secretary of State. Parliament did meet, however, on 23 Jan 1891. The election of W. J. Steward (the Liberal nominee) as Speaker showed that Ballance had 37 followers and Atkinson only 30. Atkinson, whose health was failing, had already accepted the speakership of the Legislative Council. Mitchelson accordingly announced that the Government had resigned and on 24 Jan Ballance was sworn in with the following ministry: Sir Patrick Buckley, Attorney-general, Colonial Secretary and Postmaster-general; William Pember Reeves, Minister of Education and Justice; R. J. Seddon, Minister of Public Works, Mines and Marine; John McKenzie, Lands and Agriculture, and J. G. Ward (without portfolio). Cadman came in a few days later to take charge of Stamp Duties, Native Affairs and Justice; Ward became Postmaster-general, and a month or two later Carroll was appointed as the representative of the native race. Ballance and Buckley were the only ministers with previous experience. Before coming into office as Premier, Ballance had made a sound contribution to the social legislation of New Zealand. He had assisted in widening the suffrage so that every man now had a vote. He had promoted village settlements, under which already 1,000 families had been placed on the land; and he had conciliated the King natives. He now gathered around him, in spite of the territorial restrictions, men who were as anxious as he to implement the programme of advanced liberalism of which they had spoken to the electors and to unite the rising Labour party with the liberals under one banner. The property tax was abolished and replaced by a land and income tax with a graduated land tax. In the first session of the new Government laws were passed prohibiting the payment of wages other than in money, changing the system of taxation, and inaugurating inspection of factories. This was the first instalment of a series of acts demanded by Labour to ameliorate the lot of the working classes. A labour department was established (under Reeves), which in the next 20 years was to effect radical improvements in the conditions and hours of factory labour and the relations between master and man. Land settlement was provided for in the next session in a measure which created three tenures-lease in perpetuity, occupation with right of purchase, and the optional method; and an act was passed authorising the Government to purchase lands from private owners for subdivision. The existence of an opposition majority in the Legislative Council menaced the passage of liberal measures. Ballance in his first session amended the law to replace life membership of the Council by a term of seven years, but the appointments made by Atkinson on the eve of his resignation created a majority which could not be overcome by normal process. When opposition to the new Government persisted, Ballance asked the Governor to make 12 new appointments. Onslow refused. Instead of resigning for a fresh appeal to the country, Ballance had the matter referred to the Secretary of State, who ruled that the Governor must accept the advice of his ministry. Accordingly, in Oct 1892, 12 members were appointed to the Legislative Council whose liberal opinions ensured that the policy of the Government would no longer meet with unreasonable obstruction in the upper chamber. On another point, the pardon of criminals, Ballance got a ruling from the Colonial Office that the Governor must act on the advice of his ministers. His relations with Onslow were somewhat strained during these controversies, in which Onslow frankly espoused the view of the opposition. Nevertheless Ballance, with innate courtesy and consideration, took steps to see that there should be no demonstration in the House which might hurt his Excellency's feelings. Progressive ill-health and the heavy strain of administrative duties and constitutional controversies were taking toll of Ballance's energies, and during the session of 1892 he was on several occasions unfit to take his place in the House. On such occasions Seddon, with his fine parliamentary knowledge, became the deputy-leader. When the new members were appointed to the Council Ballance's life work was practically finished. He was not to meet Parliament again. He returned to Wellington in view of the session of 1893, but was obviously a dying man and the end came on 27 Apr 1893. Ballance did not see the fruition of the Liberal programme which he had envisaged for so many years, but he saw the Liberal party established in office with such safeguards as were likely to enable it to implement its intentions. In a peculiar sense he was the heir and successor of the ambitions of Grey. The high humanitarian ideals of that leader Ballance adopted with quiet enthusiasm, and promoted with the practical commonsense of the trained politician. Quiet, amiable and simple, but solid and well-informed, he disarmed many of his opponents by his courtesy and consideration. Gisborne remarks upon his gentleness of manner and its sweetening influence upon the more robust and less considerate members of his Government. Stout says that he had a magnetic power of attaching men to himself. He was tender to human suffering. When serving in the Wanganui Cavalry he burst into tears at the sight of some Maori women who had been killed in a whare during the fighting. Throughout life Ballance played chess regularly, finding in the game a relief from the anxieties of public life. He started a chess club in Wanganui, promoted the Wanganui and Rangitikei Building society (1869), and a lodge of the American oddfellows, of which the public library was an offshoot. He was a keen lover of Shakespeare and possessed several editions of his works, and always took a part in literary and debating societies. Medicine and astronomy were two of his favourite studies. He was fond of animals, took an interest in poultry-raising and gardening, and at one time owned some useful racehorses (including Fishhook). Of Ballance's political and philosophical views Stout says that he followed at first Cobden and Bright, both of whom he had heard speak, and his budget speech of 1878 was unmistakably of the Manchester school; but later his views grew more advanced. 'As the years wore on he began to see that the laissez faire policy was not the last word spoken on political science. He gradually drifted away from the orthodox political econom

ists, becoming more radical and what is termed socialistic, following in this way the lead of such men as Toynbee, Sedgwick, Marshall, Ingram and others ... He recognised, however, that a politician must be a practical man and not deal with theories only and he sometimes got impatient with some Liberals for continually talking of theories without having any practical suggestions to carry them out. He approached many questions as a merchant would, dealing keenly and in a business way with bankers and others who had business transactions with the Government, and making a bargain with all the shrewdness of a business man.' In his early years he spoke seldom in the House, but later he became more vehement in his utterance and more rapid, sometimes speaking 'like a perfect tornado.' Originally a strict adherent of the Church of England, Ballance had rather evangelical tendencies and in English politics he was an Orangeman and conservative. His mother was a Quakeress who, in America, would have been considered a Hicksite or even a Unitarian. Ballance went farther even than this. Association in Birmingham with the Presbyterian Y.M.C.A. changed his views on life, and Stout considered that he became eventually an agnostic, but 'reverent withal and never intruding his religious views on anyone.' Ballance married first (1863) Fanny, a sister of H. S Taylor (Wanganui). She died in 1868, and he married in 1870 Ellen, daughter of David Anderson (Wellington), formerly of county Down. They had no children, but adopted two nieces of Mrs Ballance. Mrs Ballance took a keen interest in women's movements and was a vice-president of the Women's Progressive society. She died on 14 Jun 1935. N.Z.P.D.; App. H.R, notably 1891-92; N.Z. Chess Book, 1922; Brett's Almanac, 1879: Gorton; Saunders (p): Reeves; Condliffe: Scholefield, NZ. Evol.; Hight and Bamford; N.Z. Graphic, 23 Jul 1892 (p) ; Woman To-day, Jul 1937; N.Z. Times, Lyttelton Times, Evening Post and Wanganui Chronicle, 28 Apr 1893; Wanganui Herald, pass.; NZ. Herald, 6, 7 Feb 1885, 18 Dec 1891 ; Sir R. Stout in Austr. Reviews of Reviews, ii, 1893; James Collier in The Press, 31 Dec 1910; Auckland Star, 27 Sep 1887. Portrait: By Tennyson Cole in Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 33

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