Dominion of New Zealand
Template:Short description Template:Use New Zealand English Template:Use dmy dates Template:Infobox country Template:History of New Zealand The Dominion of New Zealand was the historical successor to the Colony of New Zealand. It was a constitutional monarchy with a high level of self-government within the British Empire.
New Zealand became a separate British Crown colony in 1841 and received responsible government with the Constitution Act in 1852. New Zealand chose not to take part in the Federation of Australia and became the Dominion of New Zealand on 26 September 1907, Dominion Day, by proclamation of King Edward VII. Dominion status was a public mark of the political independence that had evolved over half a century through responsible government.
Just under one million people lived in New Zealand in 1907 and cities such as Auckland and Wellington were growing rapidly.<ref name="Year-book">Template:Cite web</ref> The Dominion of New Zealand allowed the British Government to shape its foreign policy, and it followed Britain into the First World War. The 1923 and 1926 Imperial Conferences decided that New Zealand should be allowed to negotiate its own political treaties, and the first commercial treaty was ratified in 1928 with Japan. When the Second World War broke out in 1939 the New Zealand Government made its own decision to enter the war.
In the post-war period, the term 'dominion' has fallen into disuse. Sovereignty on external affairs was granted with the Statute of Westminster in 1931 and adopted by the New Zealand Parliament in 1947. The 1907 royal proclamation of dominion status has never been revoked,<ref name="status" /><ref name=":0" /> although legal academics differ as to whether the proclamation can be said to be in force.Template:Sfn
Dominion status
Debate
The alteration in status was stirred by a sentiment on the part of the prime ministers of the self-governing colonies of the British Empire that a new term was necessary to differentiate them from the non-self-governing colonies. At the 1907 Imperial Conference, it was argued that self-governing colonies that were not styled 'dominion' (like Canada) or 'commonwealth' (like Australia) should be designated by some such title as 'state of the empire'.<ref name="McIntyre2012">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> After much debate over lexicon, the term 'dominion' was decided upon.<ref name="McIntyre2012" />
Following the 1907 conference, the New Zealand House of Representatives passed a motion requesting that King Edward VII "take such steps as he may consider necessary"<ref name="govt1">Template:Cite web</ref> to change the designation of New Zealand from the Colony of New Zealand to the Dominion of New Zealand.<ref name="McIntyre2001">Template:Cite book</ref>
The adoption of the designation of dominion would, "raise the status of New Zealand" stated Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward and "… have no other effect than that of doing the country good".<ref>Report on the Inquiry into New Zealand's Constitutional Arrangements</ref> Ward also had regional imperial ambitions. He hoped the new designation would remind the world that New Zealand was not part of Australia. It would dignify New Zealand, a country he thought was "the natural centre for the government of the South Pacific".<ref name="debate">Template:Cite web</ref>
Dominion status was strongly opposed by Leader of the Opposition William Massey, an ardent British imperialist, who suspected that the change would lead to demands for increases in viceregal and ministerial salaries.<ref name="debate" />
Royal proclamation
A royal proclamation granting New Zealand the designation of 'dominion' was issued on 9 September 1907. On 26 September the Prime Minister, Sir Joseph Ward, read the proclamation from the steps of Parliament: Template:Quote
Effect and reception
Canada: "Rather large for him, is it not?"
Australia: "Oh his head is swelling rapidly. The hat will soon fit."
With the attaining of dominion status, the colonial treasurer became the minister of finance and the Colonial Secretary's Office was renamed the Department of Internal Affairs. The proclamation of 10 September also designated members of the House of Representatives as "M.P." (Member of Parliament). Previously they were designated "M.H.R." (Member of the House of Representatives).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
Letters patent were issued to confirm New Zealand's change in status, declaring that: "there shall be a Governor and Commander-in-Chief in and over Our Dominion of New Zealand".<ref name=dom_day />Template:Failed verification Dominion status allowed New Zealand to become virtually independent, while retaining the British monarch as head of state, represented by a governor appointed in consultation with the New Zealand Government. Control over defence, constitutional amendments, and (partially) foreign affairs remained with the British Government.<ref name=dom_day>Template:Cite news</ref>Template:Failed verification
Joseph Ward had thought that New Zealanders would be "much gratified" with the new title. Dominion status was in fact received with limited enthusiasm or indifference from the general public,<ref name="debate" /> who were unable to discern any practical difference.<ref name="intro">Template:Cite web</ref>Template:Failed verification Dominion status symbolised New Zealand's shift to self-governance, but this change had been practically accomplished with the first responsible government in the 1850s.<ref name="intro" />Template:Failed verification
Historian Keith Sinclair later remarked:Template:Quote
According to Dame Silvia Cartwright, 18th Governor-General of New Zealand, in a 2001 speech:Template:Quote
The national flag, depicting the British Union Flag, remained the same.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Until 1911 New Zealand used the royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom on all official documents and public buildings, but following its new status a new coat of arms for New Zealand was designed. A royal warrant granting armorial ensigns and supports was issued on 26 August 1911 and published in the New Zealand Gazette on 11 January 1912.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
For a further decade, until 1917, the viceroy retained the title 'governor'; letters patent were issued re-designating the viceroy as 'governor-general' (as in other dominions). The new title better reflected New Zealand's prestige within the British Empire. The 1917 letters patent constituted the office, with the officeholder described as 'Governor-General and Commander-in-Chief in and over Our Dominion of New Zealand'.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Despite the new status, there was some apprehension in 1919 when Prime Minister Bill Massey signed the Treaty of Versailles (giving New Zealand membership of the League of Nations). This act was a turning point in New Zealand's diplomatic history, indicating that the dominion had a degree of control over its foreign affairs.<ref name="McLean">Template:Cite web</ref> Massey himself did not view it as a symbolic act and would have preferred New Zealand to maintain a deferential role within the empire.<ref name="McLean" />
Dominion Day
To mark the granting of dominion status, 26 September was declared Dominion Day.<ref name="McIntyre2012" />
Today, it is observed only as a Provincial Anniversary Day holiday in South Canterbury. There is support in some quarters for the day to be revived as an alternative New Zealand Day, instead of renaming Waitangi Day, New Zealand's current national day.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Territorial expansion
The Antarctic territory of the Ross Dependency, previously under the sovereignty of the United Kingdom, is today regarded by New Zealand as having become part of the Dominion of New Zealand on 16 August 1923.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> The legality of that contemporary assertion has been questioned<ref>See "New Zealand's Claims in the Antarctic" by Ivor L. M. Richardson, New Zealand Law Journal, Vol. 33, No. 9, p. 133</ref> but is nonetheless the position of New Zealand.
The Cook Islands and Niue each already formed part of the Dominion of New Zealand on the date it was proclaimed. Both had become part of the Colony of New Zealand on 11 June 1901.<ref>"Commonwealth and Colonial Law" by Kenneth Roberts-Wray, London, Stevens, 1966. P. 891 and 897</ref> Western Samoa was never part of New Zealand, having instead been the subject of a League of Nations mandate and subsequently a United Nations Trusteeship agreement. In 1982 the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council allowed Samoans born under New Zealand administration (i.e. prior to 1962) to claim New Zealand citizenship.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>
Changes to dominion status
Balfour Declaration
The 1926 Imperial Conference devised the 'Balfour formula' of dominion status, stating that:Template:Quote The Balfour Report further resolved that each respective governor-general occupied "the same position in relation to the administration of public affairs in the Dominion" as was held by the monarch in the United Kingdom.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref> Consequently, the only advisers to the governor-general (and the monarch in New Zealand) were his New Zealand ministers.
Prime Minister Gordon Coates, who led the New Zealand delegation to the conference, called the Balfour Declaration a "poisonous document" that would weaken the British Empire as a whole.<ref name="status" />
Statute of Westminster
In 1931, the British (Imperial) Parliament passed the Statute of Westminster, which repealed the imperial Colonial Laws Validity Act and gave effect to resolutions passed by the imperial conferences of 1926 and 1930. It essentially gave legal recognition to the "de facto sovereignty" of the dominions by removing Britain's ability to make laws for the dominions without their consent:<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Template:Quote
New Zealand initially viewed the Statute of Westminster as an "unnecessary legal complication that it perceived would weaken imperial relations."<ref>Harshan Kumarasingham, 'The "New Commonwealth" 1947–49: A New Zealand Perspective on India Joining the Commonwealth', The Round Table, Vol. 95(385), July 2006, pp. 441–454.</ref> The New Zealand Government only allowed the Dominion of New Zealand to be cited in the statute provided that the operative sections did not apply unless adopted by the New Zealand Parliament.<ref name="StatuteofWestminster2">Template:Cite encyclopedia</ref> Preferring the British Government to handle most of its foreign affairs and defence, New Zealand held back from adopting the Statute of Westminster Act.<ref name="NZHistory1">Template:Cite web</ref>
The First Labour Government (1935–1949) pursued a more independent path in foreign affairs, in spite of the statute remaining unadopted.<ref name="StatuteofWestminster2" /> In 1938 Deputy Prime Minister Peter Fraser told Parliament, "this country has to make up its own mind on international problems as a sovereign country – because under the Statute of Westminster ours is a sovereign country".<ref name="StatuteofWestminster2" /> In the 1944 Speech from the Throne the Governor-General announced the government's intention to adopt the Statute of Westminster.<ref name="bassett_fraser">Template:Cite web</ref> It was forced to abandon the proposal when the opposition accused the government of being disloyal to Britain at a time of need.<ref name="bassett_fraser" /> Ironically, the National opposition prompted the adoption of the statute in 1947 when its leader, and future prime minister, Sidney Holland introduced a member's bill to abolish the Legislative Council.<ref name="StatuteofWestminster2" /> Because New Zealand required the consent of the British Parliament to make the necessary amendments to the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852, Peter Fraser, now Prime Minister, had a reason to finally adopt the statute.<ref name="bassett_fraser" /> It was formally adopted on 25 November 1947 with the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1947, along with consenting legislation from the British Parliament.<ref name="NZHistory1" />
New Zealand was the last dominion listed in the statute to adopt it.<ref name="NZHistory1" />
'Dominion' in disuse
After the Second World War, the country joined the United Nations as simply "New Zealand".<ref name="McIntyre2001" /> A year later in 1946, Prime Minister Peter Fraser instructed government departments not to use the term 'dominion' any longer.<ref name="gg">Template:Cite web</ref>
One of the first marks of New Zealand's sovereignty was the alteration of the monarch's title by the Royal Titles Act 1953. For the first time, the monarch's official New Zealand title mentioned New Zealand separately from the United Kingdom and the other dominions, now called Realms: Template:Quote
The name of the state in official usage was also changed to the Realm of New Zealand.<ref name="status" /><ref group=note>In 1952 the Realm comprised New Zealand and its dependent territories, the Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, and the Ross Dependency in Antarctica. The Cook Islands and Niue later became self-governing states associated with New Zealand, in 1965 and 1974 respectively.</ref> The term 'dominion' largely fell into disuse over the next decade.<ref name="status">Template:Cite web</ref> The term persisted the longest in the names of institutions (for instance, the Dominion Museum was not renamed the National Museum until 1972),<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> businesses, and in the constitutions of clubs and societies. The Dominion Post, a newspaper formed by a merger of The Dominion (first published on 26 September 1907,<ref name=Papers_Past_Dom>Template:Cite web</ref> the day New Zealand achieved dominion status) and The Evening Post, dropped "Dominion" to become The Post as late as April 2023.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
The change in style did not otherwise affect the legal status of New Zealand or its Government; the 1907 royal proclamation of dominion status has never been revoked and remains in force today. As such, the term 'dominion' may be included in the formal title of New Zealand.<ref name="status" /><ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref>
Nevertheless, the opinion of the New Zealand Government is that New Zealand became sovereign on foreign issues in 1947: "…both in terms of gaining formal legal control over the conduct of its foreign policy and the attainment of constitutional and plenary powers by its legislature".<ref name="govt1" /> In passing the Constitution Act 1986 (effective 1 January 1987), New Zealand "unilaterally revoked all residual United Kingdom legislative power".<ref>Philip A. Joseph, Constitutional and Administrative Law in New Zealand, Brookers, Wellington, 2001, p. 459.</ref> Legal academics Dame Alison Quentin-Baxter and Janet McLean argue the 1907 proclamation should be regarded as "spent", albeit not revoked.Template:Sfn
See also
References
Notes
Citations
Bibliography
External links
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