ESSAY QUESTION 1

“Propelled by hardship and a belief in opportunities elsewhere, around 11 million

people left Britain between 1821 and 1914.” (Ball p.176)

Explain the most significant push and pull factors that contributed to the 19th century
migration of British people to New Zealand.

A complex mix of push and pull factors caused the migration from Britain to New
Zealand in the 19th century, which had several different aspects. Socioeconomic
inequality in Britain drove many people to look for new starts in New Zealand. This
was due to a severe wealth divide, restricted economic prospects, and a political and
legal system that unjustly favoured the landowning wealthy. British immigrants were
drawn to this distant country by the promise of a better and more hopeful life and
attractive pull factors such as migration schemes, assisted passages, and the
enticing chance of gold. When these push and pull forces, fixed in the socio-
economic inequities and opportunities of the period, played crucial roles in deciding
the futures of numerous people and the course of a new nation, the complexity of
19th-century British migration to New Zealand became clear.

Socio-economic inequality was a prominent push factor driving emigration from 19th-
century Britain. During this time, the British were classed into 4 different social
classes. At the top of this social pyramid were the landowners. These people lived a
life of hunting, riding, shooting and parties daily, their way of showing off their wealth.
Only 0.5% of the British population lived this luxurious lifestyle and received around
26% of the national income.1 Renting the land of the wealthy were the farmers. They
employed labourers and managed them, sometimes laboured among them, having
more in common with them than the landowners. The labourers were the third tier in
British society and had many differences. Most of them could only contribute their
muscles but a handful had special skills such as hedge-cutting. The 25%-30% of the
population who were in poverty occupied the last tier.2 They had no secure work and
limited ways to maintain themselves. A large percentage of the population had very
few economic opportunities and land ownership as about 75% of the land was
owned by 7000 families and only 10% of the land was held by those who owned the
land and lived and farmed in it.3

1 (Ball, 2018)
2 (Ball, 2018)
3 (Ball, 2018)
The English economy experienced economic growth during the Victorian era (1837 -
1901) but the average income per person remained low. This resulted from the
population increase during the time which rose from 16 - 21 million people in the first
two decades of the Victorian Era.4 However, a significant wealth difference was
hidden inside the economic figures. The wealthiest 0.5% of families, collected 25% of
the national income in 1867. The next 25% of households earned 35%, while the
remaining 75% of the population had to divide around 39%. Within the lowest income
bracket, there was also an unequal distribution of income, with about 25 to 30% of
the population experiencing true poverty.5 Tony Simpson remarks, "The best that
could be said was that the situation had been significantly worse earlier in the 19th
century."6 The people at the bottom of the socioeconomic pyramid had great
hardships and had to live with very little. The main cause of emigration from 19th-
century Britain was this conspicuous socio-economic inequality, which included
differences in land ownership and income.

British politics and law were full of inequality in the 19th century, which was another
major push factor for emigration. The wealthy landowner class controlled both social
and governmental power at the time, which resulted in firmly established
relationships of power. Landowners, sometimes known as "squires," occupied a
dominant position not just in rural regions but also in areas of political power. As
Joseph Arch, a leader of the Agricultural Union, poignantly observed, "At the sight of
the squire, the people trembled; he lorded it over his tenants, the farmers; the
farmers, in their turn, tyrannized the labourers; the labourers were no better than
toads under a harrow ploughing machine."7 The landowners ruled Parliament until
1867 since voting was only open to rural property owners, who made up less than
15% of the population. Even after increasing the right to vote to 60% of the male
population in 1885, it would still take until 1918 before all males and 1928 before all
women were granted the right to vote, demonstrating the slow rate of change in
resolving the inequality.8

This unequal structure was further supported by the legal system. Landowners
promoted the consumption of alcohol, especially gin because their farms' corn was
utilised in the beverage's production. However, it resulted in more problems and
violence, particularly in cities. Hanging was one of the possible punishments for more

4 (Ball, 2018)
5 (Ball, 2018)
6 (Simpson, 1997)
7 (Ball, 2018)
8 (Ball, 2018)
than 200 offences, but most of the time, those found guilty were sent to harsh
Australian penal colonies. More than 163,000 people were deported to Australia
between 1788 and 1868, mostly for offences of a minor kind.9

Rural laws also targeted the poor, such as the "inclosure" legislation which turned
once public areas into private property, limiting the ability of the poor to increase their
income. Up until 1857, poaching wildlife was punished by deportation; thereafter, it
was punished by jail or costly fines. Workers were given restricted contracts that
made it illegal to look for other employment or to violate agreements. Even workers
who rejected risky jobs assigned by their bosses were faced with penalties under the
1867 Master and Servant Act.

The Corn Laws were one of the most obvious instances of the landowning class
abusing its political influence for personal gain. These rules restricted the entry of
low-cost imported grain to protect the financial interests of landowners. The following
demonstrations, which were mostly led by the poor who could not afford the growing
cost of food, were suppressed. The thought of emigrating as a way to escape the
terrible conditions and uncertainty created by the political and legal system of 19th-
century Britain was appealing to many labourers because of the inequality.

Migration schemes and assisted passages, which were strong pull factors,
significantly influenced migration from Britain to New Zealand in the 19th century.
These initiatives aimed to overcome the difficulties New Zealand had in attracting
immigrants, including the expense, difficulties, and uncertainty of travelling to an
unfamiliar country.

By moving some of Britain's population to New Zealand, the New Zealand Company,
founded in 1838 by Edward Gibbon Wakefield, hoped to ease the country's problems
with overpopulation, unemployment, and social unrest. The time is summarised by
historian Terry Hearn, who states that “there had to be special incentives to attract
people to New Zealand and it is these incentives that largely explain the story of
British migration to this country.”10

Despite having good intentions, the migration schemes came across several
difficulties. The New Zealand Company experienced financial difficulties as a
consequence of inaccurate maps, delays in land surveying, and a shortage of

9 (Ball, 2018)
10 (Hearn, 2008)
wealthy people ready to contribute and manage the settlements. However, up to the
early 1850s, the Company and its successors, like the Canterbury and Otago
Associations, were important in bringing around half of the 27,500 immigrants who
landed in New Zealand.11 Additionally, they helped build important cities like
Wellington, Nelson, New Plymouth, Christchurch, and Dunedin.

The Constitution Act of 1852 gave provincial governments authority over immigration
and land sales, which impacted the wealthy in certain provinces. Due to their
favourable circumstances, Canterbury and Otago prospered whereas the North
Island provinces struggled to get land and grew more slowly. The colony's overall
economic development was the central government's primary concern when it took
over immigrant recruiting in the late 1860s. During Julius Vogel's time as its leader,
the government borrowed money to finance the construction of infrastructure and
provided subsidies for the travel of over 70% of the 166,000 immigrants who entered
New Zealand between 1871 and 1885.12

32,000 migrants arrived at the height of assisted migration in the 1870s, and by
1890, all sorts of assisted migration had been stopped because of economic
difficulties.13 However, assisted migrations for desirable immigrants returned in the
early 1900s.14 One of the most significant but sometimes ignored immigration waves
in New Zealand's history, approximately 300,000 British had come there by the start
of World War I.15 In the 19th century, assisted passages and migration programmes
significantly influenced New Zealand's demographic structure by luring the British to
the exciting possibilities of a new life in an unknown land.

The temptation of gold was a major push factor in the 19th century migration from
Britain to New Zealand. Historian Michael King stated that "the promise of cheap - or
free - land was a migration magnet weaker only than gold."16 A large portion of males
in their twenties and thirties, who made up around 87% of all migrants to the South
Island's goldfields in the early 1860s, were men seeking wealth.17 The majority of the
women who did migrate did so a year or more after their husbands, often following in
their husbands' footsteps.

11 (Ball, 2018)
12 (Ball, 2018)
13 (Ball, 2018)
14 (Ball, 2018)
15 (Ball, 2018)
16 (King, 2003)
17 (Ball, 2018)
The discovery of gold in various regions sparked new gold rushes. While earlier gold
finds in the Coromandel, Golden Bay, and the Aorere Valley had drawn searchers of
riches, Gabriel Read's finding in Otago in 1861 was what really caused a big inflow.
Authorities in Otago at first worried about the entrance of thousands of young, single
men, expecting their rowdy behaviour would spread beyond the influence of the
church. Arrivals peaked in 1863 at 45,000, but as the gold output decreased over the
year, so did the flow of people.18 At roughly 20,000, the population of the goldfields
steadied.19 But in 1864, fresh finds in Marlborough and along the West Coast
sparked yet another rush. Many Australians returned home as the gold output fell
again.20

One-third of New Zealand's exports, primarily gold, and a quarter of its European
population were based in Otago by 1870. During the 1860s, Otago benefited from an
estimated £21 million worth of gold. Businesses that provided the requirements for
the gold miners flourished, exceeding many of those who engaged in gold
prospecting. Otago prospered, while the gold rush continued and the town of
Oamaru had beautiful structures built during this time, a symbol of the long-lasting
effects of the gold-driven migration to New Zealand in the 19th century.

In conclusion, the migration from Britain to New Zealand in the 19th century was an
event caused by a variety of different factors. Socioeconomic inequality in Britain,
which was caused by severe division in wealth and few economic opportunities,
acted as a strong incentive for many people to leave for New Zealand in search of a
better life. The terrible conditions in Britain and its unfair political and legal systems,
which privileged the landowning class and belittled the poor, spread the desire to
leave even more. In contrast, New Zealand offered a destination with a variety of pull
factors, including migration plans, assisted travel, and the attraction of gold.

18 (Ball, 2018)
19 (Ball, 2018)
20 (Ball, 2018)