Aiming to put history to rights

Farmer Bill: William Ferguson Massey and the Reform Party By Bruce Farland. Photo / Supplied

He was New Zealand's second-longest-serving Prime Minister, is generally regarded as one of our most effective politicians and effectively founded the Reform Party, precursor to National. Yet remarkably little is heard or known about Bill Massey today. Other long-serving or seminal leaders, like Dick Seddon and Micky Savage, Peter Fraser and Keith Holyoake, have been the subject of major biographies and their political achievements are widely celebrated.

Massey, who ran the country from 1912 to 1925, seems to be known only for Massey's Cossacks, the mounted special constables employed during the turbulent 1913 waterfront strike. Such references as are made to his premiership rather give the impression he was nothing more than a poorly-educated, narrow-minded, right-wing Northern Irish Protestant bigot.

Bruce Farland, a historian and history teacher, has written this work with the intentions of remedying both the general ignorance of Massey's accomplishments and what he sees as a left-wing bias in our histories. To that end he has, over many years, collected a vast amount of material about Massey and, especially, his role in developing policies and dealing with the great issues of his day.

Unfortunately, in the process of transforming that information into an effective biography, Farland seems to have been incapable of leaving anything out. No policy issue is too trivial, no debate too minor for him to use. The resulting 600-page tome does make his case that the image of Massey is unfair.

In fact, he was a surprisingly broad-minded man for his times, who made huge efforts to improve the welfare of New Zealanders and to look after soldiers serving in World War I. He did much to develop a successful economy and improve industrial relations, and even played a calming, mediating role during the great strikes and upheavals of the age.

Sadly, that is not likely to achieve Farland's aim of changing Massey's image because the book is almost unreadable. This biography - or rather the material in it - might well inspire someone else to do the job ... but having struggled mightily to get through its pages, I doubt if many others will do the same.

Farmer Bill: William Ferguson Massey and the Reform Party
By Bruce Farland (First Edition Publishers $60)

* Jim Eagles is the Herald travel editor.