Susan Buckland: Restoring the Ballance

COMMENT


Michael Laws, as newly elected mayor of Wanganui, has an illustrious predecessor - John Ballance.

The Ulsterman who became New Zealand Premier was a man of compassion and principle who lead by example.

The words on Ballance's statue in Parliament Grounds say: "He Loved the People."

Jill McIvor, New Zealand's honorary consul in Northern Ireland, describes the epitaph as very fitting for Ballance.

He died after only two years as Premier of New Zealand, from 1891, but had championed the country's independence from Britain and radical social reforms that led the world.

McIvor was at the door to greet me at Ballance's original home in Ballypitmave, County Antrim.

As we walked around the garden - which has some New Zealand trees, some planted by All Blacks - McIvor said that Ballance House had been destined for bulldozing in the 1970s. Ballance family members had lived in the home, built in about 1840, until 1977 when they moved to a nearby modern farmhouse.

That is when McIvor and her team stepped in to restore the run-down property.

Over a cup of tea in the barn, now transformed into a cafe, she explained that more than $1 million was needed to save the buildings but they raised the money, helped by a New Zealand Government contribution.

The born-again Ballance House opened to the public in 1991, with a crisp white exterior and faithfully restored.

It won Northern Ireland's supreme Heritage Tourist Attraction in 1997.

I was stirred to see the New Zealand coat of arms above the front door and the Maori carving that heralds the entrance to the upstairs exhibition room where both New Zealand and Ulster artists display their work. These links mean much to visiting Kiwis. And they are not lost on local school children, who visit Ballance House regularly to retain an interest in New Zealand.

This is all good, as far as McIvor is concerned. She has links of her own with our country.

Her son, Tim McIvor, was formerly private secretary to Foreign Affairs and Trade Minister Phil Goff, and is now New Zealand's deputy permanent representative at the United Nations.

He also wrote The Rainmaker, a biography of John Ballance.

In Wanganui's Motu Gardens is a statue of Ballance. The head was knocked off during the protests at the gardens, but the perpetrators "got the wrong man", McIvor says.

John Ballance actually went in to bat for Maori.

He also worked to get women the vote, an achievement for which the succeeding Premier, Richard Seddon, took the credit.

Ellen Ballance, John's wife, was also committed to politics and was an influential suffragette.

John Ballance, the eldest of eleven children, was largely self-educated. He came to New Zealand in the early 1860s and settled in Wanganui, where he founded the Wanganui Herald.

He entered Parliament in 1875 and devoted his life to making life better for ordinary people. His land policy was based on fairness and protection of Maori rights and his election as Premier accelerated the first wave of the enlightened legislation that earned New Zealand the reputation of being the social laboratory of the world.

A contemporary cartoon shows him firing the cannon of land tax to dispel the clouds of depression, earning him the title of The Rainmaker.

Ballance died aged 54. Ellen survived him by 42 years and was involved in Wanganui community affairs for much of that time.

They are both buried in Wanganui.

Jill McIvor had been Ombudsman for Northern Ireland and had just retired when the invitation came in 1996 to become New Zealand's consul.

McIvor, an enthusiastic representative of our country, helped establish the Ulster New Zealand Trust.

It has Irish and New Zealand members and welcomes inquiries from people interested in joining hands across the ocean.