SEDDON, RICHARD JOHN (1845-1906) was born at Eccleston, near St Helens, Lancashire. His father was headmaster of the Eccleston Hill Grammar School and his mother, Jean Lindsay, who came from Annan in Dumfries-shire was mistress of the denominational school. On their marriage the denominational school was closed. Seddon received a good education in his father's school, including Latin as an extra subject for which he stayed after school hours. He was good at mathematics (for which he received the prize), but soon became impatient of school and was sent to his grandfather's farm.

At the age of 14 he was apprenticed to Dalgleish and Co., engineers, of St Helens, and on completing his term he found employment as a journeyman in the Vauxhall foundry at Liverpool. He had scarcely entered upon this when he decided to emigrate, and in 1863 he left for Victoria in the Star of England. He took employment in engineering shops in Melbourne, but was soon attracted by the goldfields at Bendigo. This was a short interlude. He had no luck and was glad to return to Melbourne and obtain employment in the railway workshops at Williamstown. A clever athlete (especially in running, wrestling and boxing) Seddon won a prize at the eight-hours demonstration at Williamstown. In later years on the West Coast he frequently distinguished himself as a wrestler. He was a corporal in the Williamstown artillery. While there he met Louisa Jane, daughter of Captain John Stuart Spotswood, and granddaughter of Captain John Spotswood of the 84th and 98th Regiments, and of Major-general Waddington, H.E.I.C.S.

At the end of 1866 Seddon left Melbourne in the Alhambra for New Zealand. Landing at Hokitika, he made his way to the goldfields at Waimea, or Six Mile, where his life in New Zealand began. Equipped with a knowledge of engineering and mining methods in Australia, he and his party introduced hydraulic sluicing, constructing dams and flumes to work the auriferous terraces on the Right-hand Branch. He was connected with the celebrated Band of Hope water-race, and as a result of his experience he urged the local authorities and the Government to make races on a large scale to provide water for the miners. Seddon made a good deal of money at this time, some of which he invested in opening stores on the fields. One of these stores was at the Big Dam. In 1869 he was married, and he then settled down in Kumara, where he kept a store and took a prominent part in the affairs of the town and district. He practised with success as a miners' advocate at Stafford and Goldsborough.

In 1869, also, he made his first appearance in public life, being elected by the miners as a member of the Arahura road board, of which he was chairman from 1870 until it merged in the county. He was a candidate at the same time for the Westland county council, but was defeated. On Westland becoming a province (1874) he was elected to represent Arahura in the Provincial Council, in which he sat till the abolition (1876). He was chairman of committees for a time, and in this capacity he made a study of the standing orders, the rules of conducting meetings and parliamentary procedure according to Todd and May. When the county was re-established (1877) he became a member of the council, of which he was chairman most of the time until becoming a minister of the crown (1891). In 1878, being now one of the oldest residents of Kumara, he was elected first mayor of the borough. In the laying-out of the town he took a leading part, calling in the warden to ensure that the streets should be straight and the blocks square. Seddon first stood for Parliament in 1876. In a contest for the return of two members for Hokitika, he entered the field rather late and, not being so well known in Hokitika as the other candidates, he was unsuccessful. Barff and Button were elected, the figures being: Barff, 648; Button, 586; Reid, 527; Seddon, 343; Hoos, 6. Seddon returned thanks with a confident assurance that he would be elected at a future time. Button resigned his seat in May 1878, and at the by-election Seddon assisted in the return of Seymour Thorne George (q.v.), a nephew and follower of Sir George Grey. At the dissolution of 1879 George retired from Hokitika to contest the Rodney seat and Seddon, as chairman of the Liberal election committee, received a telegram from Grey advising him to become a candidate for Hokitika. Standing as a radical and out-and-out follower of Grey, Seddon condemned large land holdings and Chinese immigration, and proposed to pacify the Maori in the North Island by constructing railways through their lands. He considered Grey the only possible premier at the time. The poll resulted in the return of Reid and Seddon. (Reid, 917; Seddon, 800; Dungan, 561, Cumming, 90.) On appearing in Parliament Seddon declined to speak on the address-in-reply until late in the debate, contending that it was the duty of new members to listen to the arguments of those who had long parliamentary experience and to act as jurymen. He was continuously a member of Parliament (for Hokitika 1879-81; Kumara 1881-90; Westland 1890-1906). In his first Parliament he was one of the group of Liberal members who formed the Young New Zealand party. Equipped with a competent knowledge of the standing orders, he made a favourable impression as a stonewaller, when, in association with all the Nelson and West Coast members, he opposed the attempt to reduce the number of members allotted to Westland under the representation bill. During the 10 years that he spent as a private member, mostly in opposition, with short intervals supporting the Government in power, Seddon managed to get many of his proposals passed into law. He failed to gain exemption of goldmining property from property taxation, but after seven years perseverance (in which it was several times carried in the House of Representatives) he got the gold duty abolished by an act which was adopted as a conservative measure. For seven years in succession he introduced a bill to protect the public against abuses by auctioneers, and eventually secured its passage. Seddon was a member of the goldfields and other committees, and he frequently acted as teller for his party. He was a master of parliamentary procedure, alert in seizing upon points of advantage, persistent in criticism and a staunch stonewaller. He was one of the first to appreciate the political implications of the rise of the Labour party in New Zealand politics. From the outset he believed that the Liberal party should advocate labour's just demands, and during the eighties he voted consistently for all measures which aimed at improving the conditions of the working class and widening the franchise. He made as yet no claim to leadership.

From their first meeting in 1876 (when he thought of settling in the North Island), Seddon recognised Ballance as an advanced thinker and the obvious successor to Grey in the leadership of the Liberal party. Ballance, for his part, appreciated the robust energy and parliamentary acumen of Seddon, and frequently put him forward to criticise the Government. Long before the Liberal party came into power he was designated for cabinet rank. After the general election of Dec 1890 Ballance invited him to join the ministry, and entrusted to him the departments of Public Works (then very important), Mines and Defence. From the outset Seddon was supreme in his own departments. Though he had no previous experience of administration he rapidly mastered the technique and became a thoroughly efficient minister. At that time finance was not necessarily the cabinet duty next in importance to the premiership. A knowledge of parliamentary procedure was at all times important, and when Ballance was incapacitated in 1892 from taking his place in the House Seddon automatically took charge. In the months that followed Ballance relied more and more upon his vigorous lieutenant, and when he died (27 Apr 1893) there was no real question as to the succession. Stout, whom many favoured as leader of the liberals, was out of Parliament for nearly six years, and before he regained a seat (at a by-election for Inangahua on 7 Jun 1893) Seddon was securely installed as premier. When he took office (on 1 May 1893) his cabinet consisted of Buckley (Attorney-general), Reeves (Education, Labour and Justice), McKenzie (Lands, Immigration and Agriculture), Ward (Treasurer and Postmaster-general), Cadman (who shortly took Justice and Mines) and Carroll (representing the Native race). Montgomery was a member of the executive without portfolio (1893-95). In 1895 Buckley was appointed to the Supreme Court bench. In the early weeks of 1896 Reeves became Agent-general; and W. C. Walker was appointed Minister of Education, Hall-Jones Minister of Public Works, Justice and Marine, and T. Thompson Minister of Industries and Commerce. A few months later Ward resigned from the ministry and Seddon assumed charge of the Treasury and Post and Telegraph department. For three years he bore a very heavy burden of departmental responsibility. The return of Ward to office at the end of 1899 enabled him to resign some of the heavier departments, but he did not relinquish the Treasury. Ward became Colonial Secretary, Postmaster-general and Minister of Industries and Commerce, and a few weeks later assumed control of the new department of Public Health. Thompson now retired, and Seddon took into his cabinet McGowan (Jan 1900, Justice and Mines), Duncan (Jul 1900, Lands and Agriculture), and Mills (Trade and Customs). Walker having resigned in 1903, the leadership of the Legislative Council became vacant, and Pitt was appointed to that chamber as Attorney-general. Seddon's control of his departments was always firm and personal, and his leadership of the ministry was never questioned. When he assumed office the Government was involved in litigation over the resumption of the Cheviot estate under the land and income tax assessment act. This was warmly contested as a test question, and opened the way for a series of acts (sponsored by Sir John McKenzie) with the object of making land more easily available to persons of moderate means. The land act of 1892 provided several easy methods of acquiring land and the formation of small farms associations, of which a considerable number were established in succeeding years. In his first session Seddon extended the franchise to women and passed the local option act to enable the electorates to declare upon liquor-licensing policy every three years. In Nov the first election was held at which women voted. Meanwhile the passing of the workmen's wages act foreshadowed a series of laws which were to be brought forward by W. Pember Reeves. In 1894 the industrial conciliation and arbitration act was passed on its third introduction, having been twice thrown out by the Legislative Council. It was followed by the shops and offices act (1894), and acts to regulate the attachment of wages and to protect the homes of workers against mortgage or sale for debt. McKenzie passed his advances to settlers act, the acts for the subdivision of large estates were widened, and unimproved rating was introduced. The dairy industry act of 1894 introduced compulsory grading and inspection and inaugurated the expansion of the dairy industry on sound lines. The franchise was amended by the abolition of the non-residential or property qualification (1896) and by a new municipal franchise (1898). The most noteworthy social measure of this period was the old age pensions act of 1898. Its origin, as far as the liberal administration is concerned, remains obscure, but Seddon took it up as a policy measure which eventually buttressed the popularity of his Government. Its benefits were extended in 1905. In 1894 Seddon courageously accepted the responsibility of rescuing the Bank of New Zealand from imminent collapse by advancing a large sum of money and guaranteeing a new share issue. This eventually made the state a large shareholder in the institution, and enabled him to resist the demand of the left wing of his party for the establishment of a state bank. In like manner, by granting instalments or approaches, he was able to placate the insistent cry of his more advanced followers for single-taxing of land and government ownership of industries. With continued prosperity prices in New Zealand continued to rise, and from time to time he found it necessary to legislate to counteract them. Thus came into existence state coal mines (1901), state fire insurance (1903) and working men's dwellings (1905). To the Labour influence in the Government is also to be ascribed the workers' compensation act, the establishment of maternity homes and the liberalising of the education act, particularly the facilities for secondary education, which were made available to a wider section of the population, and the introduction of technical education.

By such means Seddon led the parliamentary liberal party hand in hand with Labour, which had elected half a dozen members to the Parliament of 1891 and had also genuine representation in the Legislative Council. The success of his expensive social legislation, which was made possible by the steady improvement in prices of produce, enhanced Seddon's reputation outside New Zealand. Confident in the stability of his administration, he attended the Diamond jubilee celebrations in 1897 and displayed an independent and masterful attitude at the Imperial Conference. There he expressed the view that the time had come when more formal ties should be devised to bind together the component parts of the Empire. The development of his leadership as a result of that experience was obvious, but he deferred to Labour principles by declining titles more than once proffered. His outlook on Empire affairs widened considerably, and thereafter he adopted a robust and independent tone in his communications with the Imperial Government. On topics in which he conceived the whole Empire was interested he consistently exercised his right of criticism. On the outbreak of the Boer war Seddon boldly solved the enigma of oversea loyalty by offering on behalf of New Zealand to send a contingent to serve in South Africa. He was almost unanimously supported by Parliament and subsequent contingents, amounting in the aggregate to about 10,000 men, were despatched before the war ended. Even during the war Seddon did not hesitate to voice the complaints of his people on the conduct of the campaign. He carried on a heated correspondence with the Imperial Government following the disclosure of the agreement with Germany by which British rights in Samoa were abandoned and the group was apportioned between Germany and the United States. He insisted (1900) that Tonga and the Cook group should be annexed to New Zealand. As to the latter, he gained his point in 1901, but Tonga remains in the position of a British protectorate. He further demanded that Fiji, where the whites were restive and dissatisfied, should be administered by New Zealand; but the Colonial Office, deferring to the protest of New South Wales, declined his request. His vigorous protest against questions of Imperial interest being decided without full consultation with the Colonies concerned seemed to bear some fruit; and yet the last despatch that he penned was a protest (concerted with Australia) against another such incident in regard to the New Hebrides. About 1900 Seddon adopted the title of Prime Minister instead of Premier. This was actually warranted by the civil list act as far back as 1873. The title was used in the New Zealand Year Book in 1900 and in Hansard from 1902.

Having received the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall in New Zealand (1901), Seddon left in Apr 1902 to be present at the coronation of King Edward VII. On his way he visited South Africa during discussion of the terms of peace. His wide Imperialism was firmly demonstrated not only in the contributions of the Colony to the Imperial Navy and to the forces in South Africa, but in the introduction of penny postage (1 Jan 1901), the contribution to the Pacific cable (1899), the proclamation of Empire day (1903), the passing of a preferential and reciprocal trade act (1903) and the stand he took on the introduction of Chinese labour for the development of the Rand gold mines. All through his political life Seddon had opposed Chinese labour in New Zealand, and as recently as 1900 he with difficulty persuaded the Imperial Government to assent to the New Zealand restriction act of 1899.

Seddon's leadership of the liberal and Labour parties in New Zealand was never challenged. It is true that as his earlier colleagues passed from the scene they were occasionally replaced by men of less calibre and personality. Yet he was always able to retain the loyalty of the allied parties, and no serious rift ever occurred in their relations. A rugged figure of great personal influence, ceaseless energy, force and courage, Seddon had an enormous capacity for work and no desire for devolution upon others. Throughout his administration practically every departmental decision of importance was made by him or in consultation. He was an adept parliamentarian, a master of the rules of procedure, ruthless in using them, and direct in purpose and method. With a large-hearted sympathy for the working class he combined a genius for public affairs, in which he revelled. As a speaker he was fluent and forcible. He made good use of invective, told an occasional apt story, and invariably scored against his political opponents, both on the platform and in Parliament. His importance in New Zealand history is not easily measured. When he came into politics no party that was not conservative had ever been in power. Liberalism had only recently been enunciated by Sir George Grey. Infinitely more practical than Grey, he served willingly and loyally under Ballance, for whose person he felt affection and for his leadership respect. It is inconceivable that Stout or any other Liberal leader could have succeeded Ballance in 1893, or that any other, having done so, could have implemented the Liberal programme with the same sure vision and ready opportunism that Seddon applied to his task. In his last general election (1905) the manifestos presented him to the electors as a humanist. He had demonstrated this again in 1904 by introducing legislation to safeguard maternity and child life. After an overwhelming victory at the polls (Dec 1905) he visited Australia early in 1906 to discuss reciprocal trade and mutual and Empire interests. On his return from Sydney he died suddenly on board the Oswestry Grange on 10 Jun 1906.

On his visits to Great Britain Seddon received the freedom of Edinburgh, St Helen's and the Royal burgh of Annan, and the honorary doctorate of Cambridge and Edinburgh Universities. He was a prominent freemason, being grand master of New Zealand. He was also for many years an oddfellow.

Seddon's widow died on 9 Jul 1931. She was president of the Women's Social and Political League, the Navy League and the Victoria League.

The eldest son, Captain RICHARD JOHN SPOTSWOOD SEDDON (1882-1918) was killed in France in the war of 1914-18. Another, THOMAS EDWARD YOUD SEDDON (1884-) was a member of Parliament for Westland 1906-22, 1925-28.

Westland P.C. Proc., 1874-75; N.Z.P.D., 1879-1906 (notably 7 Nov 1901, 28 Jun 1906); Reeves; Condliffe; Keith; Hight and Bamford; Hindmarsh; Reid; Drummond (p); Harrop, Westland; J. H. Allen in Empire Review, Nov 1908; Gisborne; Scholefield, Pacific and N.Z. Evol.; Saunders; Mr W. S. Myers in Windsor Magazine, Sep 1901; M.A.P., autobiography (reprinted in Lyttelton Times, 12 Jun 1906); Methodist Times, 12 Aug 1897; Weekly Press, 4 Jul 1895; West Coast Times, 19 Jan 1876, 3 Sep 1879; N.Z. Times, 27 Aug 1918; N.Z. Herald, 16 Aug 1902, 4 Dec 1905, 18 May 1906; Evening Post, 9 Jul 1931; Lyttelton Times, 12 Jun 1906. Portrait: Parliament House (by Tennyson Cole); bust by Nelson Illingworth in Parliamentary Library.

Reference: Volume 2, page 144

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