Parties and special interests in New Zealand, 1890-1893

Abstract

In July 1879 Sir George Grey inaugurated the New Zealand Liberal Association, which its adherents envisaged as a 'nationwide organisation'. Liberal Associations were founded in all the main centres and at Thames, Westport, Hokitika, and Invercargill. They proved to be short-lived. During the election campaign of 1881, only the Liberal Association at Thames was still active, and by 1884 it too seems to have become defunct. Grey's Liberal party was the first attempt at 'nation-wide' extra-parliamentary political organization before the 1890s, and its failure casts light on the nature of the political divisions in the 1880s ...