BELL, SIR FRANCIS HENRY DILLON (1851-1936) was the eldest son of Sir Francis Dillon Bell (q.v.) and was born at Nelson while his father was resident agent for the New Zealand Company. He was educated at the Auckland Grammar School and at the Otago Boys' High School (1864-69), where he was dux for four years (1864-68) and captain of the cadet corps. Proceeding to St John's College, Cambridge, he graduated B.A. (1872). He read law at the Middle Temple, was called (1874) and commenced to practise his profession with C. B. Izard in Wellington. He was for many years senior partner after the amalgamation of the firm with Buller and Gully.

Bell was an outstanding lawyer with a high reputation at the bar, and appeared over a long period in many leading cases in the courts of New Zealand and before the Privy Council. Some notable cases were the litigation of the Midland Railway Company and the Bank of New Zealand assets realisation board. After the elevation of Sir Robert Stout to the chief justiceship Bell was the acknowledged leader of the bar in New Zealand. He was crown solicitor in Wellington from 1878 to 1911, was president of the Wellington Law Society and for 17 years president of the New Zealand Law Society (1901-18), only retiring to become Attorney-general. He was one of the first king's counsel appointed (in 1907). Under Atkinson's Government Bell was offered a judgeship, but found his practice at the bar and his public activities too attractive. He always took a keen interest in law reform, and both as a barrister and as a minister of the crown seized every opportunity of amending the law in such ways as his long experience suggested. Not only could he elucidate the law in terms which were intelligible to the layman, but he was a skilful draftsman and could direct legislative enactment in a competent manner. No better drafting was ever done in the New Zealand Parliament than when Bell was leader of the Legislative Council and the minister responsible for the law drafting office. Amongst the measures which stand out as monuments of his skill are the mortgages extension act (which was afterwards copied in other dominions) and the licensing amendment act of 1918.

Bell took a very full share in the public life of Wellington and the country at large. In 1891, 1892 and 1897 he was mayor of Wellington and during this time he secured the passage through Parliament of a bill authorising the raising of a loan of £150,000 to introduce a system of drainage. From 1891-93 and 1896-97 he was also a member of the harbour board. When he first contested a parliamentary election (for Wellington City in 1890) he stood as an Independent, making no pledge, and declaring himself firmly opposed to granting the freehold of crown lands. G. Fisher, Duthie and T. K. Macdonald were elected. In 1892 Macdonald resigned. Bell stood again and was defeated by W. McLean (q.v.). At the general election in 1893 he was returned, with Stout and Duthie as his colleagues. In his short term in Parliament (1893-96) he established a friendship with W. F. Massey which lasted throughout life. For the next few years Bell was closely engaged in his legal practice, and made no attempt to re-enter politics. When the Reform party came into power in 1912 he was at once called to the Legislative Council and became a member of the ministry. He administered the portfolios of Internal Affairs and Immigration until the formation of the National Government in 1915. In this he was at first only Minister of Immigration, but on the appointment of Herdman to the Supreme Court bench in 1918 he assumed the attorney-generalship, which he held continuously under Massey and Coates until 1926. His control of the Legislative Council was marked by singular tact and decorum and conciliatory treatment of criticism, which yielded the best results in legislation.

By his personal qualities and standing in the cabinet Bell exercised a profound influence upon the affairs of New Zealand during the war of 1914-18. His own part in the war (in which he lost a son) was whole-hearted and unquestioning. Grasping essential facts readily, he appreciated without difficulty the implications of the war upon the social economy and the legislation of New Zealand, and was able not only to guide his own Government soundly through the constitutional troubles by which it was surrounded, but on occasion to advise a course which commended itself to the British Government and to the allies. He shared with Sir John Salmond (q.v.) the task of framing the intricate and novel legislation and regulations that were called for by the new conditions. Incidentally it was Bell who led the protest against the despatch of the first portion of the New Zealand Division overseas without what he considered an adequate convoy. He tendered his resignation and Massey threatened to offer his. Only at this point did the Governor-general recognise that the cabinet was in earnest.

Almost as soon as he became a member of the Legislative Council Bell introduced a bill to reform the constitution of that chamber by placing it on an elective basis. Before the election he had induced Massey to adopt this proposal, and he declared that he had entered the Council for the express object of amending it in this fashion. The Council passed the second reading almost without opposition, but deferred further consideration till next session in order to permit the electors to consider the proposal. The Lower House passed a series of resolutions approving the principle of the bill. Next session the Council again resisted the reform and Massey had to obtain from the Governor a sufficient number of new appointments to the Council to ensure its passage.

This was achieved in 1914, but the intervention of the war and the formation of the National Government (some members of which were not favourable to the reform) prevented its being put into operation. Stewart says that Bell's real object in moving for an elective legislative council was to prevent the possibility of a government in power using the system of nomination to the council to push radical measures through parliament. On the legislation to introduce conscription for service in the forces overseas Bell's Quaker ancestry was evident in the stand which he took on behalf of conscientious objectors.

He was created a K.C.M.G. in 1915. After the war Bell was the adviser of the Government in the mass of legislation to implement the repeal of the war regime. His part in drafting the legislation under which Samoa was entrusted to New Zealand under a mandate is noteworthy. He firmly believed that it was a duty New Zealand must assume. The statute and regulations which he drew up were wise and far-sighted; a model of brevity and precision. When some years later (1923-26) he was minister in charge of the mandate he imported an energy and firmness into the task which were unwonted and to the native mind almost startling. One of the interests into which Bell threw much enthusiasm during the war years was the establishment of the Forestry department, of which he had charge as first commissioner (1915-22). During Massey's post-war administration Bell had on more than one occasion to assume the responsibility of leading the Government.

In 1922 Bell fulfilled an ardent desire of his later years by visiting Europe and representing New Zealand at the allied conferences at Genoa and the Hague and at the assembly of the League of Nations. There he insisted on the right of the mandatory power to appeal against adverse criticism of its administration, and questioned the right of the mandates commission, which was only a committee of the council, to initiate such criticism. Firmly attached to the cause of peace, Bell came back to New Zealand filled with enthusiasm for the League of Nations Union, which seemed to him as necessary to the success of the League as popular election is to democratic government. He never succeeded in imparting to the Prime Minister his own belief in the future of the League. While in England Bell received at the hands of the Prince of Wales a casket presented to him by the Legislative Council and at a later date a gift from the members of the House of Representatives. He was promoted to G.C.M.G. in 1923, and was created a privy councillor in the same year.

In Parliament in 1923 Bell set his hand to the reform of the land laws by bringing all titles under the land transfer act. In that year he was again acting-Prime Minister during the absence of Massey in London. When Massey's health failed towards the end of 1924 Bell was the virtual head of the Government for a few months. After the death of Massey (on 10 May 1925) he became Prime Minister almost automatically and remained so from 14 to 30 May. This was merely to enable the party to elect a new leader; he declined the party's invitation to continue in office until the general election at the end of the year. There had not been a Prime Minister in the Legislative Council since Waterhouse (52 years earlier) but Bell made it clear that that was not the reason why he declined to hold office. His age and personal difficulties prevented him from acceding to the wish of the party, and he was determined to go out of office altogether as soon as the new Prime Minister had formed his ministry. He wrote to Sir James Allen: "You can understand that it is nothing but mischievous for a man who has led the orchestra to play anything else than a second violin when he loses the lead." (He had been credited by the public with having, by his personal influence and his ripe experience, practically controlled the policy of the Government for years past.) In Jan 1926 he surrendered his departmental duties and left New Zealand to accompany Coates to the Imperial Conference in London and to attend the League of Nations in Geneva. At the Prime Minister's request he remained in the executive while he was in Europe on this occasion. He also attended, at the request of the Foreign Office and the Colonial Office, the conference at Geneva relating to the International Court of Justice at the Hague, at which he was vice-president and a member of the drafting committee. Bell was deeply anxious to take such action as would encourage the United States to participate in the court. On the other hand he insisted vigorously that any dispute between different units of the British Commonwealth of Nations should not be amenable to the International Court but should be regarded as a domestic one. At the League of Nations he viewed with uneasiness the claim of some of the dominions to a seat on the council of the League. He felt that this would tend to destroy the unity of the Empire and might even on occasion result in the vote of Great Britain being neutralised by that of one of the dominions. He viewed with suspicion also the Balfour formula (which evolved into the statute of Westminster) and he was equally opposed to the idea of an empire consultative council. The council of prime ministers he held to be the true imperial council and inevitably superior to 'any conclave or cabal of ministers of second rank in London.' Bell married (1878) Caroline, daughter of the Hon. William Robinson (q.v.). He died on 13 Mar 1936. His life, by W. Downie Stewart (1937) is a judicious though intimate biography.

His son, WILLIAM HENRY DILLON BELL (1884-1917), was educated at Wellington College and Cambridge University; read for the bar at the Inner Temple and after being called joined his father's firm in Wellington. He was M.P. for Suburbs of Wellington (1911-14) and served in the war of 1914-18 with the New Zealand force at Samoa (Aug 1914) and with King Edward's Horse in France, where he was killed on 31 Jul 1917.

N.Z.P.D., pass. (notably 8 Jul 1917, 31 Mar 1936); Who's Who N.Z., 1908, 1924, 1932; Sheila Macdonald; W. Downie Stewart, op. cit. (p); Otago Daily Times, Evening Post, 15 Dec 1922, 13 Mar 1936 (p); The Dominion, N.Z. Herald, Otago Daily Times, 14 Mar 1936 (p). Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 47

🌳 Further sources