Dominion 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.
Dominion of New Zealand
Dominion of the British Empire
English, Māori
William Plunket (first)
Bernard Freyberg (last)
Joseph Ward (first)
Peter Fraser (last)
26 September 1907
25 November 1947[note 1]
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.[1] 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 The 1907 royal proclamation of Dominion status has never been revoked,[2][3] although legal academics differ as to whether the proclamation can be said to be in force.[4]
Dominion status[edit]
Debate[edit]
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'.[5] After much debate over lexicon, the term 'Dominion' was decided upon.[5]
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"[6] to change the designation of New Zealand from the Colony of New Zealand to the Dominion of New Zealand.[7]
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".[8] 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".[9]
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.[9]
Royal proclamation[edit]
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:
Territorial expansion[edit]
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.[20] The legality of that contemporary assertion has been questioned[21] 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.[22] 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.[23]