ROLLESTON, WILLIAM (1831-1903) was born at Maltby, near Doncaster, Yorkshire, on 19 Sep 1831, and was a son of the Rev George Rolleston, M.A., rector of the parish and squire. He was educated at Rossall under the headmastership of Dr Woolley (afterwards principal of the University of Sydney). He then passed on to Cambridge, entering at Emmanuel College in 1851. Next year he won a foundation scholarship, and in 1855 he graduated B.A. with honours in the classical tripos. A brother, Dr George Rolleston, M.D., F.R.S. (d. 1881) was a distinguished professor of physiology at Oxford.

After leaving Cambridge Rolleston spent some time in private tuition, and in 1858 sailed for New Zealand in the Regina. He had made up his mind to go on the land, and without delay took up a run at Mount Algidus in the forks of the Rakaia, close to Lake Coleridge. Rolleston threw himself heart and soul into the arduous work of landowning and did everything possible to improve his property, particularly in the treatment of the soil and the planting of trees. The fact that much of the surrounding country was explored by him accounts for the prevalence of classical names in the neighbourhood. Later he took up a property on the sea coast near the mouth of the Rangitata river, where he lived during most of his public life.

Rolleston took an early interest in public affairs. In 1863 he was appointed a member of a select commission to suggest a scheme of education for the province, his colleagues being Tancred, Dr Lillie, and Saunders. They visited all the schools in the province and brought down a report which recommended placing the whole of them under the control of a board of education. In 1875, when he held the more responsible position of Superintendent and had a Colonial position as well, Rolleston said: 'Our best policy would be to make education free in all Government schools; and such a result is, as I think, but the corollary upon the adoption of any responsibility by the state in the matter of education.' Two years later, when the Colonial system was under discussion, he declared himself convinced that the education provided by the state should also be secular. At the end of 1863, when Bealey was Superintendent, Rolleston was persuaded to let himself be elected for Heathcote to the Provincial Council, and to assume the office of provincial secretary, which he held until Jun 1865. In that year gold digging commenced at various points on the western side of the Alps, and in Mar a great rush of miners set in to Westland from other provinces of New Zealand and from Australia. Though Canterbury was a pastoral province, it was essential that she should see that people on both sides of the range reaped the fruits of the new prosperity. As provincial secretary, Rolleston proceeded across the range with Rochfort and other officers to set up the machinery of government there. Rolleston and Hall, as representing the Canterbury government, and Dobson, Rochfort, and the other officials who went with them, did everything possible to meet the emergency. Rolleston's part was so well done that when Bealey retired from the superintendency in the middle of 1866, he was requested (but declined) to stand for the chief magistracy. He was, in fact, deeply engrossed in the duties of Under-secretary for Native Affairs, which he accepted in Jun 1865 at the invitation of Weld and carried out with zeal and efficiency for three years. In this post he demonstrated not merely his interest in education and his sympathy with the Maori people, but his capacity for administration. His term of office had a most beneficial effect upon the native village school system.

In May 1868 Rolleston resigned from the Native office to devote his full attention to provincial affairs. The superintendency had again become vacant and his supporters, preferring his caution to the freer disposition of Moorhouse, persuaded him to stand. He was duly elected, and took office as a strong provincialist, but not altogether satisfied with the provincial system as it then existed. He frankly wanted it simplified, but did not look with favour on the proposal, which was then before the country, for the severance of the whole of the province south of the Rangitata and its erection, for all practical purposes, into a separate province. He was quite willing to give the southern district the whole of its revenue for local works, but 'unity of government' (he declared) 'is essential to our future greatness as a nation.' He took a strong stand also upon the administration of the railways, which he contended must be independent of the changing politics of the day. On the constitutional question Rolleston strove hard for a solution of the friction that existed amongst council, superintendent, and executive. In common with such shrewd provincialists as Ormond and McLean, he believed that the superintendent should have a seat in the council and be in close touch with it, instead of communicating by means of messages and addresses. He went so far as to be nominated for a seat in the Council, but at the last moment withdrew and sought a solution in another direction by offering to regard the whole Council as his executive and to carry on the administration himself with the assistance of a clerk or two. From the outset of his superintendency he saw clearly the spectre of abolition in the future and urged his Council to take steps betimes to simplify and improve the system, though unquestionably it had enabled Canterbury to do very much for herself. During his superintendency Rolleston promoted immigration as the best precaution against slumps in the future. Though he strongly opposed the Vogel policy of borrowing, he entered heart and soul into the immigration proposals, and was proud of the fact that the population of Canterbury increased from 45,000 in 1870 to 59,000 in 1874.

Rolleston had to defend the superintendency in 1870 against Moorhouse, who came out unexpectedly as a candidate and was defeated by 1,800 votes to 897. At the end of that term he was re-elected unopposed, and saw the provincial system to its close. He promoted public works throughout the province, especially the harbour works at Lyttelton and Timaru, and the railways, which, however, were taken over by the General Government before the abolition. In Feb 1876 Rolleston presided at the opening of the railway from Christchurch to Timaru, and a few days later at the opening of the Amberley line. To meet the discontent of the outdistricts, he agreed to the setting up of the Timaru and Gladstone board of works, which for several years before the abolition, had the spending of the whole of the revenues raised in its district. He took an interest in the establishment of the Museum at Christchurch, which he opened, and the words cut over the entrance door were placed there by him at a later date. A provincial exhibition was held during his superintendency. The question of education was never at rest for long. In 1870, and again in 1874, bills were passed by the Provincial Council dealing with the Canterbury system, which was one of the most successful in the colony. Rolleston strongly opposed the administration of education by the executive of the day. He believed that salaries of teachers and administration should be entirely removed from the vicissitudes of party politics. When an ordinance was presented to him in 1875, which proposed to hand over the administration to the executive, he refused to sign it.

In the parliamentary struggles on abolition, Rolleston staunchly defended the provinces, and was able to adduce good evidence from the case of Canterbury that they had justified themselves. When at length they were extinguished, in 1876, he received a valuable mark of the esteem of the people of Canterbury. A few weeks after his election to the superintendency in 1868 Rolleston was elected unopposed to succeed Reeves as member for Avon in the General Assembly. He went to Wellington well equipped by official experience in native matters, and he launched a well-informed attack upon the native policy of the Stafford government, which he declared could never produce peace on the west coast of the North Island. Next year he moved for the appointment of a commission to visit every native district and ascertain the position of the natives. Rolleston's position in the House steadily improved, and he was plainly marked out for office as soon as the party which he supported should gain the ascendancy. The great popularity of Grey staved this off for a while. Rolleston had come out in 1873 as a champion against the 'gridironers' in Canterbury, and many of his supporters could not understand how he could oppose Grey in 1877. When at length Grey's government came to an end (Oct 1879) and Hall took office, Rolleston was entrusted with the departments of Lands, Immigration, and Education, for each of which he had special qualifications. Later he took also Justice and Mines, and for a few months in 1881, during the retirement of Bryce from the ministry, he administered Native Affairs. Always cautious, and leaning towards clemency to the Maori, he was reluctant to put into effect the Parihaka policy which was eventually adopted by the government. Rolleston resigned from the cabinet, but when the policy was adopted he insisted on signing the proclamation, and when Bryce set about carrying it through Rolleston proceeded to Pungarehu, and by his presence identified himself with the Government. Though he had to bear the odium which this policy excited in a South Island constituency, he was returned unopposed for Avon at the general election of 1881.

Rolleston in the next few years put into effect some liberal ideas in land legislation. He believed in deferred payments, but he feared to establish a tenantry either of the moneylenders or of the crown. Preferring the latter as the less evil, he introduced the perpetual lease into his land bill of 1882. Continuing to hold the portfolios of Lands, Mines, and Immigration in the Whitaker and Atkinson governments, he got the perpetual lease extended in 1884. At the general election in that year he defeated A. Cox for Geraldine, but on the retirement of the Atkinson government a few weeks later he became a private member. In 1887 he was defeated for Rangitata by S. Buxton. In 1890 he fought the Halswell seat against F. S. Parker, and won, and during this Parliament he was leader of the Opposition. In 1893 he again sustained defeat (in the Ellesmere electorate), his opponent being W. H. Montgomery. At the general election in 1896 Rolleston defeated G. W. Russell for Riccarton by 1,834 to 1,443. In 1899 the tables were turned, Russell winning by a single vote (1,867 and 1,866).

Rolleston then retired definitely from politics. Amongst his activities outside of Parliament education always had him as its servant. For many years he acted on the Canterbury education board. For a few years (1873-75) he was a member of the board of governors of Canterbury College. From the foundation of the New Zealand University in 1871 until his death he was a member of the senate. He was also on the governing body of Christ's College from its early years until his death. The foundation of the Deaf and Dumb Institution at Sumner in 1880 was due almost entirely to the interest which he took in the matter as Minister for Education. Many Canterbury educational buildings came into existence during his administration as Superintendent and as Minister, and he took steps to endow them from the landed estate of the province. After the election of 1899 Rolleston retired to his estate at Rangitata, where he died on 8 Feb 1903. He married in 1865 Elizabeth Mary, daughter of Joseph Brittan, one of the Canterbury Pilgrims. Two of his sons, FRANCIS JOSEPH (born 1873) and JOHN CHRISTOPHER (born 1877), became members of the House of Representatives in 1922. The former was Attorney-general and Minister for Justice and Defence in the Coates ministry (1926-28).

Gisborne says of Rolleston: 'There is nothing volatile, in the ordinary sense, about Rolleston; on the contrary a vein of doggedness runs through his nature. When he wavers it is from excess of conscientious doubt as to what is right, but he is firm enough in trying to do it when convinced, and that quality has made him from time to time amenable to the logic of facts. As Minister for Lands, he has been liberal, prudent, and far-sighted, and has done much to discourage mere speculation and to promote real settlement. He is a very good administrator. He dislikes red tape and procrastination, and has a horror of the system of how not to do a thing which he thinks should be done. He has a great aptitude for official business, and in its transaction he is clear, methodical, and industrious. He is intelligent, well-educated, earnest, and animated by the highest motives. What he lacks is decision of character and definiteness of purpose. He is too sensitive and emotional. His feelings are too highly charged, and move him to and fro by jerks and starts. He is so anxious to do what is right that he is more afraid of doing what is wrong; and he wavers between opposite poles. These dual forces make his political motives somewhat unsteady, and, in a party view, irregular.' Saunders says: 'He was the most profound thinker, the most highly educated, the best read, and the most experienced and well-informed minister upon practical political questions. His fastidious determination to say exactly the right thing in exactly the right words made him usually hesitate over the selection until the main effect of his speech was spoiled.

'As a writer or conversationalist he was effective, interesting, and very original.' Sir Robert Stout said: 'I do not know anyone who gave a better example of what classical culture could do in humanising mankind. It was an education in itself to discuss with him some literary, historical, or political subject.'

App. H.R., 1901, A4; Cant. P.C. Proc.; N.Z.P.D., pass (notably 30 Jun 1903); Gisborne (p); Cox; Saunders (p); Reeves; E. Wakefield; Beaglehole; 1901; The Press, 10, 16, 19, 20, 22 Feb 1903, 19 Mar 1903, 2 Apr 1903, 8 Mar 1990 (p). Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 2, page 129

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