SWAINSON, WILLIAM (1809-84) was born at Lancaster, the eldest son of William Swainson, merchant. Educated at the Grammar School there, he was admitted to the Middle Temple in 1836 and called to the bar in 1838. After practising for some years as a conveyancer, he was nominated by Lord John Russell for the Attorney-generalship of New Zealand (1841). Fellow passengers in the Tyne were W. Martin (the Chief Justice) and Outhwaite, a solicitor who afterwards became registrar of the Supreme Court in Auckland.

On the long voyage, which terminated at Auckland on 25 Sep (after a call at Port Nicholson), Martin and Swainson spent much of their time drawing up rules for the procedure of the courts which they were charged to establish, and drafting some of the acts which would have to be passed by the colonial legislature as early as possible. Swainson displayed a disposition, quite unusual amongst lawyers of his day, to simplify the language of the English statutes so as to make them intelligible to the ordinary man. He was no slave to subtle technicalities, and in drafting conveyancing laws he swept away a mass of cumbrous English precedent. His influence in this respect is very marked in the subsequent legislation of the Legislative Council of New Zealand (1841-51) and of Parliament. Swainson had not merely to draft the legislation, but to steer it through the Council. Rusden remarks that he passed measure after measure which would excite the admiration of law reformers. Finally he had to appear in the courts of the Colony and plead them. He was a very competent advocate. His first appearance as Attorney-general was in the Legislative Council of pre-parliamentary years, and it is possible from the published reports of the session of 1851 to discern his political opinions on a variety of social and constitutional questions. He was an ardent advocate of open voting as against the ballot; he opposed the property qualification for membership of the Legislative Council as tending in a small community to limit the choice of the electors; and he advocated and provided in a bill a statutory qualification to enable natives to enjoy the franchise.

When the constitution of 1852 was brought into operation Swainson was the first member appointed to the Legislative Council (1853). Wynyard (acting-Governor) designated him Speaker of that chamber, and it was thought that he would conduct the business of the Government as well, but the standing orders adopted by the Council precluded his acting in the dual capacity or taking part in the debates of the Council. During the constitutional disputes of 1854-56 Swainson was the principal adviser of Wynyard and the main channel of communication between E. C. Wakefield and the Government. He became hopelessly embroiled in the struggle over responsible government. Naturally prudent and conservative, he carefully guarded himself against being drawn into too close association with Wakefield. He took the stand that in view of the royal instructions and the constitution itself the Administrator could not introduce responsible government on his own initiative. He felt strongly that continued sittings of the House only exacerbated the feelings of members and prevented cool reflection; and that it was advisable to adjourn while his Excellency communicated with the Colonial Office. The House was prorogued accordingly on 16 Sep 1854, and shortly afterwards Swainson went to England on leave. While he was away the Colonial Office decided, against his opinion, that there was no necessity for special instructions to enable responsible government to be brought in. It was accordingly put into effect, and in the session of 1856 provision was made for the retirement on pension of the three permanent officials (Swainson and one other having been appointed by the crown). He had been superseded as Speaker (8 Aug 1855), and he retired from his official position on 7 May 1856. He remained a member of the Legislative Council until 1867, but his last appearance in the Council was in Dec 1864.

In Parliament Swainson's attitude was strongly legalistic. For instance, when he intervened in 1863 and brought about the downfall of the Domett Government his real object was merely to protest against the absence of a government representative from the Council. Swainson was naturally retiring. He had a prudish horror of publicity and of the profane crowd. Gisborne remarks that he was an able lawyer, but an indifferent politician. His advice was not always sound, as for instance when he advised Shortland that England by the Treaty of Waitangi had acquired sovereignty only over a portion of the islands. He was sharply rebuked by the Colonial Office for suggesting that the royal commission under the great seal could be impugned by a subject, and even by a servant. That opinion he fully recanted in the Legislative Council on 26 Jul 1851, when he declared that the action of the crown was inviolable.

Swainson shared with Martin and Selwyn a passionate zeal for the rights of the Maori, and lost no opportunity of using his influence on their behalf. He appealed to Parliament to recognise and appreciate their regard for the laws of muru and tapu and their feeling of degradation and loss of prestige if they were imprisoned. He said: 'If but half of the forces which became necessary for the safety of the country had been stationed in New Zealand from the outset; and if the cost of the other half had been employed throughout the same period in maintaining a schoolmaster in every native pa and village charged with the instruction and the moral and intellectual training of the native people, it may be too much to say that the peace of the Colony would never have been disturbed, but it is certainly not too much to say that the foundations would have been laid on which alone the permanent peace and prosperity of the Colony could ultimately be secured.' Swainson played an important part in drafting the constitution of the Church of the Province of New Zealand (1857), and in getting it passed through the general synod (1859). He was for many years a member of the Auckland synod and from 1866 until his death chancellor of that diocese.

He had a distinct literary gift, and besides his polished legal opinions he wrote a number of books. Before leaving England he published a pamphlet on the climate of New Zealand (1840). In 1852 he published anonymously at Auckland a small book on the city and its neighbourhood, which was afterwards reprinted in England as Auckland, the Capital of New Zealand, and the Country Adjacent (1853). Visiting England two years later, he gave many lectures to encourage people to emigrate, and these were published in 1856, followed in 1859 by New Zealand and Its Colonisation. Like Martin, he felt impelled to make public his views on the Maori wars. In New Zealand and the War (1862) he showed the impolicy of going to war on account of the Waitara block, to which the Government's title was not a good one. Amongst Europeans Swainson had the character of a cultured and amiable gentleman, simple and unostentatious in his mode of life. For 30 years he lived in a small house (which he brought from England) at Tauraroa, Judge's Bay, close to the home of Martin. In his early years in New Zealand he made many journeys on foot in the Maori districts, visiting friends of the native race belonging to many tribes and missions. Swainson died at Auckland on 1 Dec 1884.

NZ.P.D., 1854-64; App. H.R., 1854-56; Thomson; Rusden; Saunders; Hight and Bamford; Reeves; Martin; Morton; Swainson, op. cit.

Sinclair papers; Richmond papers; GB.O.P., 1842-56; Cycl. NZ., ii (p); Purchas; NZ. Gaz.

N.Z. Herald, 26 Jan, 2 Dec 1884, 13 Jul 1929; N.Z. Spectator, 21 Jun, 26 Jul, 2 Aug 1851.

Reference: Volume 2, page 180

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