John Andrew Millar and the New Zealand labour movement

Abstract

This thesis traces the influence of John Andrew Millar on the New Zealand labour movement in the years 1887 to 1912. Of this period Dr.W.B.Sutch wrote as follows: 'In 1890 and in the period 1908 to 1913 movements grew which threatened the legal and institutional basis of the economic system, namely, the private ownership of the means of production. On these two occasions the conflicts in New Zealand society were laid bare. Attitudes were translated into actions.' Sutch, The Quest for Security in New Zealand, Preface, pp.Vll-Vlll. In 1890 Millar, as secretary of the Maritime Labour Council of New Zealand, translated attitudes into actions; in the other time of crisis, in his capacity as Minister of Labour, he repudiated both attitude and action.