RICHARD JOHN
SEDDON
1845-1906
‘King Dick’
Born 1845
Left school
aged 12
Survived smallpox
aged 16
Seddon went to Melbourne
aged 18.
Fell in love with Louisa
Spotswood.
Seddon headed to Hokotika
to make his fortune
Became storekeeper then
a publican
Married Louisa
Richard Seddon was well
known as a fist fighter
1874 Elected to Westland Provincial Council
1876 moved his publican’s licence to
the Queen’s Hotel at Kumara
1877 He was elected as the first mayor
of Kumara
1878 Seddon was almost bankrupt
1879 supported by Sir George Grey
Seddon became the MP for Hokitika
•Richard was 34 years old
and six feet tall.
•Between 1879-90 he held
the positions of:
•Minister of Public Works
•Minister of Mines
•Minister of Defence
Liberals 1890
John Balance PM
Prime Minister
John Ballance
Robert Stout
Richard Seddon
Liberal
Legislation
Chinese
1881 there were 5000 Chinese in NZ
Seddon introduced a poll tax
1891 Land and Income
Tax
This was the first tax on income
A graduated tax to be applied to ‘unimproved land’
Unimproved land
1892 Labour Department
To inspect factories where 2 or more people worked
1892 Lands for Settlements Act
To buy up large estates and redistribute it to small scale farmers
1892 Land Act
Allowed people to lease Crown
Land for 999 years
999
1892 Department of Agriculture
To educate and advise new farmers
1893 Local Option
Voting to keep areas ‘wet’ or ‘dry’
1893 Female Franchise
1894 Bank of New Zealand Guarantee
Act
Support to prevent the bank’s imminent collapse
1894 Factory Act
Children under 16 to only work 48 hours per
week
5 days holiday a year
Saturday to be a half day
Sunday to be a full day off
Workplace safety
Toilets to be provided
Lunchrooms to be provided
1894 Advances to Settlers Act
Low interest loans to farmers to make improvements to their land
1894 Truck Act
Wages to be paid in cash not goods
1894 Shop and Shop Assistants Act
To improve shop working conditions
1894 Industrial Conciliation and
Arbitration Act
To prevent strikes
1898 Old Age Pension Act
For the deserving poor
Sobriety
Not for Asian people
Seddon comfortably won the 1902
election
The title Premiere was changed
to Prime Minister
By 1904 Seddon had lost much of his left wing fervour and a new
left-wing party emerged called the Political Labour League
Seddon won the 1905 election and on his way back
from Australia he died on the 10th June 1906 aboard
the Oswestry Grange and was buried at the Bolton
Street Cemetery Wellington.
1845-1906