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Mrs Mantelow talks about suffrage and prohibition (294kb) - transcript . Mrs Mantelow interview is from 'Three Auckland women remember their first vote in 1893', recorded 1963, T343, New Zealand Sound Archives.

Mrs Perryman recalls the suffrage campaign and describes voting for the first time in the 1893 election (654kb) - transcript. From 'Mrs Perryman recalls 1893 general election', D410, New Zealand Sound Archives.

F. M. B. Fisher recalls a big parade through Wellington on the night before the 1884 election - transcript. From 'F. M. B. Fisher [MP 1905-14, son of George Fisher, MP 1884-93, 1896-1905] tells of 1884 and 1905 elections', recorded 1959, TX37, New Zealand Sound Archives.

Charles Duigan describes election night in Wanganui in the 1890s - transcript

• Part 1 (544kb)
• Part 2 (279kb)

From 'Charles Duigan talks about Wanganui elections 1880s-90s', recorded 1948, MU31 & MU33, New Zealand Sound Archives.

Norman Douglas describes the night of Labour's 1935 election victory in Auckland (218kb) - transcript. From 'Hustings History', National Radio, New Zealand, 12 May 2002 (first broadcast 19 Jul 1984), tape supplied by Replay Radio.

Jack Marshall's recollections of election night in Wellington in 1946 (190kb) - transcript. From 'Hustings History', National Radio, New Zealand, 12 May 2002 (first broadcast 19 Jul 1984), tape supplied by Replay Radio.

Radio announcement of the 1935 election results and Prime Minister G. W. Forbes conceding victory to the Labour Party (168kb) - transcript. From 'Hustings History', National Radio, New Zealand, 12 May 2002 (first broadcast 19 Jul 1984), tape supplied by Replay Radio.

© Copyright Radio New Zealand. All rights reserved. Permission of Sound Archives/Ngā Taonga Kōrero, Christchurch, New Zealand, must be obtained before any re-use of their radio recordings.

Sound Files | Transcripts | Film Files

Film Files

These film clips are hosted on the New Zealand Film Archive website. They require the free Quicktime Player plug-in to play. Those relying on dial-up connection will find that the clips take several minutes to download and play. We suggest you open them in a new window (PC: right click (Mac: Shift+F10)| Open Link in new window) and come back and look at the rest of the exhibition while you wait!

Labour candidate David McLaren addresses electors in Wellington during the 1911 campaign. 'Wellington. The Elections. A Dash of Politics at Lunch', 1911 (1.7 MB, 1 minute 13 sec). F862.

Scenes from the 1954 election. From 'Pacific Magazine 7', Pacific Films, 1954, producers Roger Mirams, John O'Shea (3.3 MB, 1 minute 49 sec ). F11127.

Keith Holyoake appears in a National Party TV commercial from 1963. From 'Prime Minister Holyoake Interview', interviewer Dr John Reid, introduced by Alan Jarvis, Pacific Films, 1963, produced for NZBC (2.8 MB, 1 minute 38 sec). F10936.

A Labour Party commercial from 1969. 'Labour Party. Make Things Happen', 1969 (3.3 MB, 2 minutes). C1600.

National's 'dancing Cossacks' TV commercial from 1975. 'National Party. Superannuation', 1975 (5.1 MB, 2 minutes 49 seconds ). C1555.

Sound Files | Transcripts | Film Files

Transcripts

Mrs Mantelow talks about suffrage and prohibition

Interviewer: Mrs Mantelow, you say that temperance and the franchise went hand-in-hand in New Zealand then?

Yes, it did, because the Wesleyans were all out for prohibition. The Wesleyan support was mad for prohibition, and so they helped the women get the franchise, because they knew that once women got the franchise the liquor laws would be altered. Oh it was an exciting time, let me tell you. I think women wouldn't have got the franchise when they did, only for the Wesleyans working so hard on the temperance question. The Reverend Leonard Isitt was a great worker in this; his son was knighted, and was a member of Parliament. There was a man called French. They worked like 'niggers'. Old Seddon didn't want it you see, he put everything he could against it. And the old hypocrite, when the whole thing was over he congratulated the women, you see, on having won the franchise, and one woman looked at him and said, 'you're nothing but a hypocrite', and he said, 'no, I'm a politician, I always side with the winning side'.

But the men didn't like it? They didn't like their wives, their daughters voting?

No, they said their wives didn't want it, their wives were quite content. My own father said, 'my wife is content to be as she is'. And my mother said, 'but I'm not!' So we had a row at home over that [laughter]. Oh I think it was quite exciting you know.

Mrs Perryman recalls the suffrage campaign and describes voting for the first time in the 1893 election

I voted in the parliamentary elections of 1893, when women first had that privilege - that right - and I am voting in this general election [1963?] too. My first vote was in the Hutt electorate, and I well remember the candidates: Dr [Alfred] Newman and Mr Wilford, afterwards Sir Thomas, then making his first attempt to enter Parliament, where he had a very long career. At that time I was first mistress at the Petone School; there were over 600 children attending it in those days. I was very interested in the women's franchise movement, organised by the Women's Christian Temperance Union, and I helped to get signatures for the big petition you've heard about.

Interviewer: New Zealand women were content to petition. I suppose you never thought of stirring up obstinate legislators by setting fire to post boxes or storming Parliament buildings?

Oh no, Mrs Sheppard, who directed the franchise movement, was a lady - in the real early Victorian sense of the word. She would never have approved of violence. And though we had some provocation, we put up with abusive criticism from our chief opponents, and some silly things were said about our ideas in Parliament.

And so, to impress Parliament, you relied on the enthusiasm of your sex in signing petitions?

Well, all women were not enthusiastic. It meant hard work to collect those signatures, and we met many women who told us quite emphatically they wanted nothing to do with politics. Mrs T. E. Taylor, wife of a very prominent independent member [of Parliament], used to tell a good tale about one of these reluctant women. The lady firmly declined to sign the petition, and firmly shut the door in Mrs Taylor's face. But before Mrs Taylor could reach the front gate she was called back. 'Yes', said the lady, 'I will sign your petition, just to vote against that man Tommy Taylor'. Before we could vote we had to enrol, and again we went through the experience of finding many women who did not want the voting privilege. One of their strongest objections was that voting meant going to a public polling booth, among a number of strange men. You know, conditions were very different for women in those Victorian days. They always had to have a male escort when they went out. And the idea of asking them to enter a polling booth on election day, when things were rather lively, was so repellent to many people that an effort was made to introduce postal voting for women. That was not adopted.

But you didn't hesitate, Mrs Perryman, to go to the polling booth?

Well, it was a bit unpleasant going among a lot of strange men, but the conditions at Petone, compared with some other places, were very good. And once the women had succeeded in getting the vote, all candidates were anxious to have their support. I remember that in my first election one candidate made a special appeal to the women. His baby son was paraded in a perambulator [pram] with a large placard - 'Vote for Daddy'.

[Laughter] That's good, I wonder if they'd do that today? Thank you.

F. M. B. Fisher recalls a big parade through Wellington on the night before the 1884 election

When I was seven years of age, my father became a candidate for Parliament. Well do I recall the splendour of the great procession which took place the night before the poll. And especially do I remember it because there was never another one like it. It may have been the last of an era. It assembled in front of the great wooden government building on Lambton Quay, Wellington. The year was 1884. It seemed to my youthful mind that nearly the entire population of Wellington had assembled to witness the spectacle. Various organisations assembled in groups, carrying banners and flags. The brass-helmeted fire brigade was in the procession, and the brass band. Organisers wearing coloured sashes mustered the processionists in stately order. A candidate in an open Landau [a horse-drawn carriage] was sandwiched into the long line of marchers. Hundreds of smelly paraffin torches lighted the way, as the army of enthusiasts marched along Lambton Quay, up Willis Street, through Manners Street, and then turned down onto the yellow [clay] reclamation, not very far from the site of the present town hall, where, from sundry planks and casks, a temporary platform had been erected for the candidates to speak. It was a great meeting they said, and it undoubtedly was, even though at the end there were not a few free fights, which added to the lustre of the occasion. Well, my father won that election, and with but one break he sat in Parliament until 1905, 21 years later, when he passed away.

Charles Duigan describes election night in Wanganui in the 1890s 

Part 1: I heard Mr [John] Ballance speak on several occasions on election night. I remember one occasion when he was opposed by Mr [Gilbert] Carson, who was then the editor of the Chronicle. I think it was the last election Mr Ballance fought [1890], and he only got in by about 24 votes [actually 27]. Elections were very different in those days to what they are now. For instance, you never saw a woman on the streets on election night, and no woman ever went to an election meeting. There was a lot of 'horseplay'. This time that I speak of, Mr Ballance's election room [or] committee room, was in a building called the Institute, opposite the Courthouse. There was a big crowd in the street in the evening, waiting about for the declaration of the poll, and the committee room got full of smoke, and one of the men in the room drew down the sash, the top sash of the window to let in some fresh air. Immediately he did that, a very dead cat was precipitated into the room from the street. Well, the room was cleared in very quick time, and the window was shut down. After that we went over to the Courthouse for the declaration of the poll. The returning officer was Mr Garland Woon, who was a very dignified old gentleman with a long white beard. And he came out onto the veranda of the Courthouse, and he just began saying 'ladies and gentlemen, I have to announce the results of the poll for this electorate' when a very rotten egg took him right in the face, and he had to retire for some time to deal with the mess. After Mr Ballance was declared elected on this occasion, the crowd brought his carriage along, and put him in the carriage, and started to drag him along Ridgway Street. And from some of the crowd he was pelted with eggs and flour in small paper bags and was very soon smothered in it. Unfortunately one of the people in the street put a stone inside his paper bag and Mr Ballance got rather a bad cut on his face. But then, he took it in good part, although this went on for some time, and then eventually he managed to get away and get home.

Norman Douglas describes the night of Labour's 1935 election victory in Auckland

We were in the old Pacific Building on the corner of Wellesley Street and Queen Street. The Labour Party had rooms on the top floor, and thousands of people gathered down in the square there, and then later at the Auckland Star office [in Fort Street], which were publishing the results as they came through and putting them up on the window in large lettering so that people down below could see what was happening. Now that was an astounding spectacle. All along Fort Street was just one solid, hard mass of people, cramming themselves together to see the results, and cheering as Labour was winning. That was fantastic. And I'll never forget Michael Savage coming to the window, when it was quite obvious that Labour was going to become the government, and though I'm sure that thousands of them couldn't see him, nor could they hear him, because it would be too far for him and he didn't have a strong speaking voice, they wouldn't hear him, but they knew he was there and they just were almost frantic.

Jack Marshall's recollections of election night in Wellington in 1946

In those days the Evening Post in Wellington used to post the results on a huge board on the front of their building, and as each result came through from various parts of the country they'd paste it up. Thousands of people used to assemble in front of the Evening Post and spread way down Mercer Street and along Willis Street. And as each result went up, there would be cheers and boos and so on. And also, at that time, it was the practice for the candidates to be invited to come up onto the balcony on the top of the veranda above the Evening Post, and have the opportunity of addressing the assembled multitudes. And I remember clambering up a ladder on that occasion [1946] and thanking the electors of Mount Victoria for returning me at my first election.

Radio announcement of the 1935 election results and Prime Minister G. W. Forbes conceding victory to the Labour Party

News bulletin:11.30 - the official state of the parties is Labour 36, National [Coalition] 12, Independents five. Labour has won 14 seats.

Announcer:Shortly before midnight, it became obvious that the government would have to vacant the Treasury benches, and the Right Honourable G. W. Forbes, on learning of the Coalition's defeat, paid a spontaneous tribute to the Prime Minister elect, Mr M. J. Savage.

Forbes:In handing over the reins of government to the Labour Party, [who] now [have] a working majority, I do that with sincere hope that under their guidance this country will prosper, and with no feeling whatever on my part against any of those who have been our opponents.