A Great New Zealand Prime Minister?: Reappraising William Ferguson Massey

by Watson, James; Paterson, Lachy

• ISBN13: 9781877578076
• ISBN10: 187757807X
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2011-04-01
• Publisher: Paul & Co Pub Consortium

Summary

One of New Zealand's longest-serving Prime Ministers, his political legacy has not always been treated kindly. However, recent work by historians suggests that a reappraisal of Bill Massey - which this book provides - is overdue. It is clear, a century later, that Massey was Prime Minister at a particularly turbulent time in its history. The opening essay by Erik Olssen reviews the development of his own assessment of Massey over almost five decades. After initially imbibing the established Labour Party view of the man as thoroughly reactionary and anti-democratic, he recounts his growing awareness that there was much about Massey's personality and career that contradicted that portrayal. The following chapters examine aspects of Massey's life and leadership in chronological order - from his experience as a teenage immigrant from Ulster through to his part in the Versailles Peace Conference and the tough campaign in 1923, less than two years before his death, for Imperial Preference, which secured the market for New Zealand products in Britain for the next half century.

Author Biography

James Watson is a senior lecturer in history at Massey University, Palmerston North. He is the author of Makers of the Modern World: W.F. Massey (Haus Publications, 2010). His research interests include the relationship between New Zealand and the United Kingdom in the twentieth century, and the history of European fascism. Lachy Paterson is a lecturer at Te Tumu School of Maori, Pacific and Indigenous Studies, University of Otago. He is the author of Colonial Discourses: Niupepa Maori 1855-1883 (Otago University Press, 2006) and is currently researching several projects, including Maori-language print culture.

Table of Contents

Introduction	p. 7
Towards a Reassessment of W.F. Massey: One of New Zealand's Greatest Prime Ministers (Arguably)	p. 15
Was Massey a Typical Ulster Immigrant?	p. 31
'A worthy helpmeet': Christina Massey, Plunket and Maternalism	p. 39
'Every man his own landlord': Mr Massey and the Fight for Freehold, 1894-1912	p. 49
Who Voted for Massey 1908-1914?	p. 61
'Beery Bill the Orangeman': Another Look at William Ferguson Massey	p. 77
'Old Bill was all right': William Ferguson Massey and the Soldiers	p. 87
From Taiaha to Ko: Repatriation and Land Settlement for Maori Soldiers in New Zealand after World War I	p. 97
'The greatest commercial traveller in the Empire': Massey and Trade	p. 121
Notes	p. 131
About the Contributors	p. 163
Index	p. 165
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