ATKINSON, SIR HARRY ALBERT (1831-92) was born at Broxton, Cheshire, on 1 Nov 1831, the son of John Atkinson, an architect and engineer. While he was a child his father removed to Hurworth, Durham, and then to Frindsbury, Kent, where the boy was brought up. He went to the Rochester School and to Blackheath, leaving in 1850 to pursue an intensive course of reading in history, public administration, theology and colonial affairs. An elder brother, William Atkinson (1826-74), had gone earlier to New Zealand and recommended his younger brothers to follow. Their father had independent views on education, and when his boys contemplated emigrating to New Zealand with their friends the Richmonds, he had them taught useful trades, such as carpentry, tinsmithing, bootmaking and blacksmithing. Harry and Arthur sailed with the Richmonds in the Sir Edward Paget, which reached Auckland in May 1853. Chartering a 14-ton cutter, the Three Brothers, they reached New Plymouth in Aug. Atkinson declined an offer of employment with a bootmaker in the town, and joined his relatives, who were farming small sections on the Carrington road. Their eight farms now aggregated 1,000 acres. Atkinson built his homestead, which he called Hurworth, of timber sawn by himself, and spent strenuous years felling and clearing, fencing and ploughing. Though suffering from asthma, he did not spare himself, and had the satisfaction of creating a pleasant home (which is still standing) in picturesque surroundings. In 1856 he married Amelia Jane Skinner, daughter of a banker in Rochester.

Before they had been long in Taranaki the native question began to assume an alarming aspect. From being enthusiastic and industrious farmers, on cordial terms with the pakeha, the Maori became divided over land disputes, in which the pakehas inevitably were involved. Acting on the advice of Major Lloyd (q.v.), who foresaw that sooner or later they must come into conflict with their Maori neighbours, the settlers commenced military training under his orders. Atkinson in May 1857 was elected to the Taranaki Provincial Council (for Grey and Bell), and was already marked out as a leader amongst the men of action in the province. Towards the end of 1858 the Taranaki Rifle Volunteer company was formed, and he was elected to hold a commission. Punctual, resourceful, prudent, and a master of bushcraft, he was given command of No. 2 company as soon as the war began. His volunteers speedily gained the upper hand in numerous skirmishes and running engagements with the natives. They were first under fire at the battle of Waireka (28 Mar 1860) where they behaved with great steadiness and intrepidity, holding the advanced position above the Waireka stream, and withdrawing to Omata at nightfall in good order with their dead and wounded. In Aug, while leading a force of volunteers and militia to bring in the property and livestock from threatened homesteads, Atkinson ran into a sharp engagement with a marauding party of natives. At the attack on Mahoetahi (6 Nov) he demanded a post of honour in the attack for his volunteers, who were smarting under the criticisms of the general. They accordingly formed the first line of the attack with the 65th regiment, and acquitted themselves with great distinction. They were also present at the engagements of Kaihihi and Matarikoriko. During this campaign most of the farms were raided by the Maori and many homesteads were burned. Atkinson's was set on fire but escaped destruction.

In Jun 1861 Atkinson was elected unopposed to represent Grey and Bell in Parliament, and he reached Auckland on the day after the defeat of the Stafford Government. On the outbreak of the new war in 1863 Atkinson's great experience in the field was utilised in command of the Forest Rangers, formed in Jul 1863 with an effective strength of 150. At Allen's Hill, Potokou (10 Oct) the Rangers doubled for a distance of four miles to support the regulars. In Mar 1864 they distinguished themselves at Kaitake. On 6 Apr at Ahuahu they rescued the killed and wounded after the regulars had suffered a reverse, and at the end of the month they took part in the skirmishes at Sentry Hill. In Sep they were present at successful operations at Manutahi and Mataitawa. Atkinson was frequently mentioned in despatches; received the thanks of the Government and was promoted major. Colonel Warre described him as "a first-rate guerilla leader." During these years Atkinson had been thrice deputy-superintendent of the province, but in Feb 1864 he withdrew from provincial politics. While all the volunteers under his command received land grants from the Government, Atkinson alone of the officers received none. When Weld took office, in Nov 1864, pledged to a policy of self-reliance in the conduct of the war, he chose Atkinson as being eminently fitted by character and experience to inaugurate the policy as Defence Minister. During the year Atkinson accompanied the expedition which established Brassey at Pipiriki in the teeth of the Hauhau invasion of the Whanganui district (May 1865). A few months later the Weld ministry resigned office and Atkinson, seeing no hope of keeping Stafford out of office, withdrew at the dissolution (Jan 1866) to devote his attention to his own affairs. His wife died on 22 Jun 1865 (aged 33). When Sir John Richardson resigned the town of New Plymouth seat early in 1867 Atkinson was elected unopposed (29 Apr). He signalised his return to the House by moving a series of resolutions on the militia and volunteer system, and later in the session he brought in a bill to amend the volunteer act of 1865. He considered the British troops should be sent away at once and a militia should be trained for home defence. Atkinson's authority on military matters and native affairs now stood very high. His speech on native affairs in the session of 1868 is noteworthy. As a leader in the field he could not yet be dispensed with, and when the reverse at Te Ngutu-o-te-Manu created a crisis in the conduct of the war against Titokowaru in the west and Te Kooti in the east Haultain (the Defence Minister) considered Atkinson and Whitmore equally qualified for the post of commander-in-chief. The fact that Atkinson intended to pay a visit to Great Britain decided the matter. He left the colony in 1868.

When he returned to New Zealand by the Halcyone in 1871 the colonial troops under Whitmore had suppressed the enemy in the west and driven Te Kooti finally into the bush. Taking advantage of a vacancy for the Egmont seat, Atkinson defeated Moorhouse (5 Oct 1872) and thus regained the floor of the House. He took a new interest also in provincial matters in the early seventies. As a settler in a small province impoverished by war, he realised that it had little hope of a prosperous future, and as early as 1867 he had favoured a permissive measure to allow the small provinces to unite with their larger neighbours. He was even prepared to do away with all the provinces if he could see a practicable scheme of local government. Six years later, with the abolition question well advanced, he contested the superintendency of Taranaki against Carrington and Brown, promising that if elected he would sit in council and administer the office of superintendent without the help of a paid secretary. Carrington was elected on 10 Nov 1873 (Carrington 324 votes; Atkinson 276; Brown 172). A fortnight later Atkinson was elected to the Council at the top of the poll for his old Grey and Bell constituency (25 Nov). In May 1874 he became provincial secretary, but on accepting Vogel's invitation to join the ministry (Sep 1874) he relinquished his provincial post. Vogel departed at once for England, and as Pollen was in the Legislative Council Atkinson became the virtual leader of the Government. He was thus burdened not only with the Treasury but with the very onerous task of piloting through Parliament the bills for the abolition of the provinces and contingent legislation to inaugurate the new centralised system (notably the financial arrangements, the counties, the roads and bridges and the harbours bills). He was in those days at the zenith of his power; his reputation high and his health as yet unimpaired by the strain to which it was subjected. Beginning with no special knowledge of finance, he mastered the subject by sheer energy and determination. In his first financial statement Atkinson astounded the House by his grip of finance and his thorough knowledge of accounts, and during the next 16 years his reputation survived not only the criticism of an astute opposition, but also the vicissitudes of a severe depression and drastic retrenchment. Gisborne comments on the remarkable political development of Atkinson at this period, due mainly to his self-reliance, his great moral courage and unbounded faith in his own powers. He had more than average ability, great tenacity of purpose, audacity and untiring energy. Administering the Treasury with little intermission for 10 years, Atkinson was the mainspring of the Government in its various combinations. When Pollen became Premier (Jul 1875) Atkinson openly assumed the office of Treasurer. He continued under Vogel, and from Sep 1876 to Oct 1877 in his own ministry. From 1876 to 1884 he was (except for a short interval) continuously Colonial Treasurer. Atkinson was still at the Treasury in the Hall ministry (1879) and he continued when the cabinet was reformed under Whitaker (1882). It was in this latter period that he brought forward, in the form of resolutions in the House (10 Jul 1882), a proposal for national insurance based on the scheme of the Rev William Lewery Blackley (of Hampshire). The resolutions, which affirmed that provision should be made by national insurance against sickness and pauperism, were roundly denounced by Sir George Grey as a blow at Christianity, and the House received them coldly. In spite of the condemnation of a political committee in his own electorate and of the warm hostility of the friendly societies, he persevered with his campaign, even after he had again become Premier in 1883. When he returned to office as Premier in 1887 it was to a bleak vista of lean years ahead, with inevitable economies and retrenchments which forbade him entertaining new obligations in social service; and it was left to a Liberal administration a decade later to put old age pensions on the statute book. Though Atkinson was definitely a social reformer, the stern demands of budget-making were paramount; he was forced to the bitter alternative of cutting down expenditure when the country was in its greatest need.

Atkinson's health was now steadily declining. In 1889 he paid a visit to Tasmania, but returned without improvement. At the elections in Dec 1890 his Government was defeated. Unable to bear up longer under the heavy burden of political leadership, even in opposition, he resigned from the House and was appointed Speaker of the Legislative Council. In 1891 he visited Australia as one of the New Zealand delegates to the Federal Conference. He took an active part in the debates and warmly supported Grey in the effort to get introduced into the federation proposals a plebiscite on the one-man-one-vote principle. It was defeated by 21 votes to eight. When he returned to New Zealand it was obviously merely to await the end, which came dramatically at the commencement of the session of 1892. When the Legislative Council adjourned after paying tribute to members who had died (Whitaker one of them), Atkinson retired to his own room with the Hons R. Oliver and G. B. Morris. To a remark about his own health he replied: "I may look well, but I have my marching orders. I may die at any moment." He collapsed shortly afterwards and died peacefully (28 Jun 1892).

There is good warrant for the statement of James Collier that Atkinson was at heart a socialist. Under a stern exterior, and driven by circumstances to scan jealously every shilling of public expenditure, he nevertheless kept himself abreast of modern thought in the social sphere and was amenable to suggestion from advanced thinkers. The influence of James Hinton, if it is really appreciable, was undoubtedly less than that of Henry George, interpreted to him probably by F. W. Frankland (q.v.). Atkinson in his early ministerial days was a staunch freeholder, and in 1879 abolished Ballance's land tax in favour of a property tax.

On the other hand, he was later a strong advocate of Rolleston's perpetual leasing system as regards crown lands in preference to the sale of the freehold. His advocacy of national insurance over a period of three years was admitted even by his

Reference: Volume 1, page 28

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