MOORHOUSE, WILLIAM SEFTON (1825-81) was born at Knottingley House, Yorkshire, the eldest son of William Moorhouse, a magistrate of the county. After receiving a good education he wished to go to sea, and was eventually apprenticed and made several long voyages. Then Sir Samuel Martin, M.P. for Pontefract (and afterwards Baron of the Exchequer), who had been assisted by the elder Moorhouse in his election to Parliament, advised putting him into the legal profession. He accordingly entered the chambers of prominent counsel in London, and in 1849 was called to the bar at the Middle Temple. For the next year or two he practised on the northern circuit, contemporaneously with Mr Justice Johnston (q.v.). Several members of the Moorhouse family decided to emigrate to New Zealand, and William, Ben and Tom sailed in the Cornwall, landing at Lyttelton on 10 Dec 1851. They purchased land and intended to farm in partnership. The prospect in Canterbury not being attractive, Moorhouse sailed for Wellington, and on 26 Jan 1852 took the oath in the Supreme Court and was admitted to the New Zealand bar and as an attorney. Instead of settling down at once, he and Ben spent some months in riding over a great part of the North Island, including Taranaki and Wairarapa, inspecting land. William appears to have visited Victoria, while Ben gained experience in Wairarapa. About May 1852 they returned to Lyttelton, which Moorhouse then considered the best-built town in New Zealand and likely soon to be the wealthiest. The legal profession, however, was overcrowded, and Moorhouse did not find it easy to finance the brothers in their farm at Sumner. He had a keen eye to trade; appears to have made profits by disposing of merchandise shipped by his father; and paid one or two visits to Australia. He was enrolled as an elector (Jul 1853) for the town of Lyttelton, as a barrister-at-law and a householder and for the Christchurch Country district.

At the first superintendency election Moorhouse nominated Colonel James Campbell as the advocate of cheap land. The magistrates at Akaroa refused to allow Campbell to be enrolled, and the returning officer warned the electors that even if he were at the head of the poll, he could not be declared Superintendent. FitzGerald was elected. Moorhouse stood unsuccessfully for the Akaroa seat in the Provincial Council, but the constituency elected him M.H.R., the first member elected to the Parliament of New Zealand. In Nov he went to Wellington, expecting that Parliament would be convened. Finding this unlikely, he remained there until the arrival of the ship Northfleet and was married by the Rev Robert Cole on 15 Dec to Jane Anne Collins (1824-1901), who was born at Maidstone, Kent. Meanwhile his brothers left for the Australian diggings, and Moorhouse, feeling his responsibility for them, persuaded his bride to go with him to Victoria. The brothers were engaged on the construction of waterworks at Yan Yean. The four lived in tents some distance away from the works, and when the contract was finished they returned together to New Zealand.

Landing in Auckland on 27 Jul 1854, Moorhouse was at once sworn in and took his part in the constitutional discussions. He dropped out of Parliament in 1855, and next year acted as magistrate at Lyttelton. About this time he bought the brig Gratitude, 154 tons, which made several voyages to Australia in his ownership (1855-56). Twice he was on board as owner and supercargo, taking produce for the goldfields and returning with horses for Canterbury. One cargo of horses was a disastrous failure owing to adverse weather. Only two ponies survived, and they were so emaciated that they had to be carried ashore. The Gratitude was sold.

In Mar 1853, Moorhouse was elected to the Provincial Council for Akaroa, which he represented until 1857. When FitzGerald's term as Superintendent expired (1857) there were only two candidates, Moorhouse and Joseph Brittan. Moorhouse was the inferior speaker, but he was a successful canvasser and won by 727 votes to 352. His policy as Superintendent was a vigorous development of resources and communications. Addressing his Council, he said: 'The want of a more perfect means of communication between our principal seaport and the plains has long been a source of great embarrassment in the commercial operations of the province. Having the advantage of a safe and commodious harbour, perfectly adapted to a very large commerce, it has become a matter of the very highest importance that you should at once consider and determine the best method of securing the safe and expeditious transit of our marketable productions to the place of export.' With Bray and Bowen to advise him, Moorhouse elaborated the railway and tunnel scheme. He was opposed by the 'wealth and intelligence of the province.' Even FitzGerald (now agent of the province in England) was actively hostile. Moorhouse sent Bray to England to exhibit the plan, and was encouraged by the approval of Robert Stephenson. Eventually a contract was concluded with an English firm to make both railway and tunnel. They duly entered upon the work; but soon threw up the contract. Moorhouse obtained the authority of the Council to find a contractor, and left in Jan 1861 for Australia with samples of rock taken by Haast from the tunnel workings. In May he came back with a contract from the firm of Richardson and Holmes to make the tunnel. In the midst of the struggle he was re-elected Superintendent without opposition (Jul 1861). In the same month he turned the first sod of the railway; the first stone of the tunnel was laid during 1862; and in 1863 the line was opened from Christchurch to Ferrymead.

Moorhouse represented Akaroa in Parliament (1858-60). He was defeated by A. E. White on the eve of leaving for Australia. At the provincial dissolution in 1862 he was re-elected Superintendent. In Jul he was again in Parliament as member for Heathcote, and he was associated with FitzGerald in framing resolutions with a view to the admission of Maori members to Parliament. By this time there was a good deal of resentment in Canterbury against his strong personal rule and arbitrary expenditure; and early in 1863 he resigned the superintendency, and supported the candidature of Bealey, who was elected in his place. Moorhouse entered the Council as member for Kaiapoi, and was in Wilkin's executive for a few weeks. In Oct he resigned from both Parliament and Provincial Council, but in Feb 1864 he returned to the Council as member for Heathcote, which he represented until 1866. On resigning the superintendency Moorhouse returned to legal practice (in partnership with Macfarlane). He was comparatively a poor man, and often embarrassed financially. When Bealey's term expired (1866) he found himself on a new wave of popularity, and it seemed meet that he should take office to complete the great work he had conceived. In Feb he was elected to represent Mount Herbert in Parliament. Westland chose him also. He accepted the latter and fought to secure its greater representation.

Acceding to a requisition to resume the superintendency, he was vigorously opposed by J.D. Lance and W. T. L. Travers. For four months the contest was waged, and it ended in a victory for him. (Moorhouse 1,479; Lance 742; Travers 176) The triumphant opening of the tunnel (May 1867) was followed by a grave depression. When, at the end of the year, trains ran through to Lyttelton, Moorhouse had the satisfaction of declaring his great work finished. Once more he resigned the superintendency (Apr 1868) and returned to his practice, and a few months later he retired from Parliament. Moorhouse had no personal ambition in politics. In Aug 1866, when Stafford was defeated on his amendment by 47 to 14, he was invited to form a ministry. Instead, he urged Stafford to reconstruct and carry on. He had a faculty for abandoning his opportunities of personal advancement. At the next superintendency election (1870) he unexpectedly came into the lists, 'to extend the policy of Rolleston.' But he was defeated by 1,800 votes to 897, and thus ended his activity in provincial politics. He was elected in 1870 without opposition to represent Christchurch in Parliament, but retired at the dissolution the same year, and announced his withdrawal from public life. The Provincial Council thereupon voted him £2,500 in recognition of his services. With characteristic rectitude he paid the cheque over in satisfaction of debts which would never have been incurred had he devoted his great talents to his own affairs.

Moorhouse went to Wellington to practise law, and was associated for a while with Stafford and later with Edwards. At the end of 1870 he was appointed Secretary for Lands and land claims commissioner, and later, as Registrar-general of Lands, he had to inaugurate the new system of registration. He resigned both in Sep 1872, to contest the Egmont seat against Atkinson. Though not unknown in Taranaki, he was no match for Atkinson in his own province. Strong provincialist as he had been, he admitted that the provinces 'were now an expensive and helpless nuisance.' At the end of 1874 he contested the mayoralty of Wellington with the remark: 'I have never raised my voice above a whisper upon public affairs in this town. I have never obtruded my views upon this community.' He defeated Dransfield by over 400 votes. His speech in accepting nomination was a well-considered statement of his theory of municipal government. He declined the honorarium of £200. In Jun 1875, on the retirement of A. P. Seymour, member for Wairau, Moorhouse made another attempt to get back into Parliament. He had a strong opponent (Joseph Ward), who defeated him by 202 to 177. At the general election a few months later Moorhouse was again sent to Parliament for a Christchurch seat (with Edward Richardson and E. C. J. Stevens). In 1879 he won Ashley, for which he sat until his death (on 15 Sep 1881). Moorhouse's failure to follow up the solid promise of his early career is not easily comprehensible without knowing of the disease which later sapped his spirit. A man of athletic strength, generous ideas, unbounded courage, and genial bonhomie, Moorhouse was always a popular figure. Lenient to the faults of others, he never said anything that might hurt. His speeches were original in thought and expression, and full of pithy utterances. Without being either graceful or fluent, he was a powerful speaker by reason of his sincerity. To the limited extent that a busy life permitted he was a reader, fond of Thackeray and of the human understanding of Dickens. He even wrote some verse himself, with which he entertained his friends. He once remarked to Alfred Cox that Sir John Hall had in excess the qualities which he lacked: 'He is all caution; I am all enterprise. Were it possible to amalgamate us the world would look upon two first-class men available for every variety of work.' Gisborne said of him: 'Wanting in method, industry, and patience, he had a mind in the depths of which there lay rich though irregular veins of precious ore, but with this exception he took no trouble to work the ore properly or bring it to the pit's mouth.' 'He built houses for other men to live in,' remarks Cox. Samuel Butler, who saw much of Moorhouse in the sixties, says: 'Moorhouse dwells ever in my memory as one of the very finest men whose path I have crossed-one of the very few men who treated me with far greater kindness than I did him. He dwells ever with me as perhaps the greatest man all round that I have ever known.'

MSS. in Canterbury Museum (tunnel proposals); Civil Service records; Canterbury P.C. Proc.; Cycl. NZ. i, iii (p); Saunders; Reeves; Rusden; Guthrie Hay; Acland; Andersen; Cant. O.N.; Cox; Lessing Jones; Woodhouse; Taranaki Herald, 21, 28 Sep, 5 Oct 1872; Lyttelton Times, 16 Sep 1881, 30 Dec 1885; 12 Dec 1917; The Press, 16 Sep 1881, 25 Mar (p); 5 Apr 1930. Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 2, page 52

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