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British humanitarians and the founding of New Zealand : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History at Massey University, Albany, New Zealand. EMBARGOED to 14 November 2026.
(Massey University, 2024) Wyatt, Philippa
This thesis reconsiders the intentions of the British humanitarians who sought to implement a ‘new system’ of ‘humane colonisation’ inaugurated by the signing of the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840. It addresses two principal questions. First, it attempts to understand how scholarly interpretations regarding humanitarians have changed over time and come increasingly to deny any protective intentions. It begins with Keith Sinclair who, although initially critical of humanitarians, came to greatly appreciate the importance and influence of humanitarian thinking and its Christian basis. It then follows the historiographical marginalization of humanitarianism during a period of intense historical revision in the 1970s and 1980s when humanitarianism was dismissed along with long–held ‘myths’ of racial harmony. ‘New Imperial History’, while reintegrating New Zealand with the empire, has likewise continued to present all humanitarians, particularly missionaries, as little more than active agents of imperialism. Secondly, this thesis seeks to provide a revision of that existing interpretation through a re–examination of the intentions of leading humanitarians in 1840. What that assessment reveals is that their goal was to create a more just and equal society, both at home and within the empire. This was understood to be necessary given the ‘crisis of civilization’ these men were then facing as evident in the growing poverty of the working poor within Britain and the increasing mistreatment and exploitation of indigenous peoples in the empire. It was the urgency created by that crisis that not only fueled a revival of faith but united these men as Christians, and led them to then seek to change their society and the empire as a whole through what was to be a radical programme of social and political reform based on ‘moral politics’. What they sought was to empower the poor and marginalized to better help themselves by assisting with their development to a position of ‘social equality’ and independence through educational and social reforms. With regard to Māori, what that meant was implementing a programme of targeted assimilation that could equip them with the education and skills they needed to compete more equally with Pākehā, while maintaining that which was important to their culture and identity, particularly their language. Securing the independence and greater protection of the vulnerable both at home and abroad was also understood to be dependent on securing their greater legal equality and civil rights, and what was a movement inspired by Christian faith and ‘love’ in turn became a civil rights movement that eventually sought to achieve in New Zealand what these men called ‘amalgamation’: the peaceful union of the two races on the basis of a shared faith and equal rights and laws. This was the great hope of the ‘new system’ of ‘humane colonization’ that came to be first attempted in New Zealand. It was also the hope of many Māori leaders, who likewise understood the Treaty to have created a union based on ‘one faith, one love, one law’.
Flight of the Kiwi : New Zealanders experiences of cannabis in Amsterdam while on their overseas experience (OE) : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Health Psychology at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand
(Massey University, 2019) Colley, Gabrielle Margaret
Cannabis consumption and travelling share a number of similarities, such as evoking pleasure or anxiety and, like in the title used to reflect this thesis, represent the experience of “flight” for the “Kiwi” (New Zealander). This thesis therefore explores both the experiences of cannabis consumption, a flight of the mind and travelling a flight of the body. The aim was to understand how New Zealanders experience cannabis in Amsterdam while they are undertaking a working holiday based in the United Kingdom (UK), known within Aotearoa New Zealand as an Overseas Experience (OE). Given Aotearoa New Zealand’s current political debates on cannabis control and the upcoming 2020 public referendum on legalising the substance, this thesis provides an opportunity to explore how New Zealanders experience cannabis within a liberal country that tolerates the sale of soft drugs in licensed premises, while growing up in a country that enforces cannabis prohibition. Statistics on cannabis use illustrate a steady rise in global consumption, however majority of countries still implement prohibition as a method of control, therefore choosing to study New Zealanders use of cannabis in a country without any legal ramification or stigmatisation for personal consumption allowed for greater transparency and in depth exploration. Nine, one-‐on-‐one, in-‐depth interviews were undertaken with New Zealanders, aged between 18-‐30 who were living and working in London. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using Interpretive Phenomenology Analysis (IPA). Four subordinate themes were identified within the data, along with ten sub-‐themes. The results illustrate the sensible and structured nature cannabis was consumed and enacted abroad. Cannabis was not the sole motivator for the trip to Amsterdam however consuming cannabis to reach a pleasurable level of intoxication was intentionally pursued by all participants whilst in Amsterdam. In order to reach the desired state participants often drew from previous experiences or shared knowledge on the effects of cannabis and would implement certain techniques and practices to ensure they did not reach an undesired level of cannabis intoxication. Future research, with a diverse and larger sample would provide additional insights and could possibly assist in the potential policy change and implementation within the country.
A searchlight on New Zealand : what the visit of an imperial battlecruiser tells us about the country in 1913 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
(Massey University, 2019) Romano, Gail
The experience of the tour [of the battlecruiser HMS New Zealand] in both imperial and local New Zealand terms, and the insights this offers into the country’s social and political landscape in 1913, are the subjects of this thesis. Three key questions provide the framework for investigating the environment that provided the backdrop to the tour and which, in large part via the press, both set people’s expectations for encounters with the ship and influenced subsequent narratives. It is instructive first to consider, what did the New Zealand’s tour suggest about the country’s relationships within the empire in 1913? This question offers interesting reflections not only on the imperial mind in 1913 but also on the way New Zealanders perceived themselves and their country, as well as on the attitudes towards New Zealand expressed by representatives of the ‘Mother Country’ and the sibling dominions. To begin building a view of the dominion’s pre-war nature that extends beyond the accepted trope, the thesis asks two questions focused on lived experience. What attitudes did various groups of people adopt towards the visit? What does the visit of the battlecruiser tell us about New Zealand society in 1913? By examining the reactions of four different categories of New Zealanders within the context of their individual ‘worlds’, those with official responsibilities, Maori, children and those with political and/or social sympathies outside the mainstream, it is possible to draw a nuanced picture of who New Zealanders were, what had shaped society as a whole and what influences continued to be felt. In short, the battlecruiser’s visit to New Zealand can play a key role in researchers’ understanding of what imperialism actually meant within the dominion and how it was translated in everyday experience. The findings of this thesis will contribute to a more nuanced understanding of how the visit and its reception fit into the historiography of New Zealand’s relationship with the British Empire. They will also show that, as a micro study, the 1913 tour provides much material to allow the drawing of a multi-dimensional picture of New Zealanders and New Zealand society prior to the First World War.--From Introduction
John Selden's History of tithes in the context of two of his other early works : a thesis presented for the degree of Master of Arts at Massey University
(Massey University, 1987) Loncar, Kathleen
In the seventeenth century one very keenly contested issue was that of tithes. In many areas these were still levied in kind - one-tenth of all pro-duce of the land - though some had been commuted to money payments. Because so much former monas tic land had come into possession of lay persons at the Dissolution of the Monasteries, many of the tithes were held by lay landlords and were not being paid to the clergy. Also some former monastic lands were exempt from tithe. As a result, many parish livings no longer provided a reasonable livelihood for a clergyman. The Church was trying to regain the tithes, which it saw as rightly Church revenue, by arguing that tithes were a levy set by divine law for the upkeep of the clergy. Those who believed this based their argument on the Bible, and also on canon law, which gave con-trol of the tithes to the Bishops. They maintained also that any dispute over tithes must be determined in the ecclesiastical courts. The landed interest on the other hand said that as tithes were a levy on land, disputes over tithes belonged properly to the common law courts. When John Selden wrote his History of Tithes he elected not to enter the argument as it stood, but claimed to set out in full the whole history of tithes from the time they were first levied. In the course of this history he not only examined Biblical texts and writings of pagan antiquity, but also early Saxon laws for tithing in England. However he spent a very great part of the work in discussing the medieval period, including researching and quoting from wills, chartularies and legal cases. In the course of this analysis he argued that tithes, not only in England but throughout Europe, were established by secular law, and disputes about them were properly matter for the secular courts; also that when tithes had been legally conveyed by will or gift to a monastic church this created a valid title in law which must stand. Most of these conveyances were made prior to the thirteenth century; after that the title to tithe was settled in the parish rector. Selden allocated the second half of the work to examining the situation in England in detail, and showed that as all the former monastic lands in England were held by the right of the Statutes of Dissolution of the Monasteries, with all the rights inhering in them at the time of the Dissolution, all the rights to tithe and exemptions from tithe held by lay persons should remain with them. However he also claimed that the clergy were more assured of their right to the tithes they held by accepting his argument than they were if they claimed them by divine law, since not everyone believed in divine law. He believed that the Church's rights were inextricably linked with the land, and if this linkage were broken the stability of society would be disrupted, and the parish clergy would be in danger of losing their rights altogether. To obtain a full understanding of his thought on the matter, this thesis examines the History of Tithes in the context of two of his other works written at about the same period, in which ancient laws were researched and the importance of the early Middle Ages, which he saw as the seminal period for the constitutional and legal framework of society, demonstrated.
The rescue, reform and restoration of childhood : a hundred years of child labour in Britain (1780-1880) : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Social Anthropology at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand
(Massey University, 2003) Stillman, Terry
Over the past twenty years, child labour has drawn heightened attention from the global community, especially through debates over labour standards and international trade. The plight of these working children in the present-day Third World is however not unlike the plight of those children who were once employed in the fields, factories, mines and workshops of Britain. In the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries it was the industrialisation of the British economy that intensified the exploitation of children and normalised their labour. Today, it is globalisation and the World Market that assumes this role, overwhelming the lives of millions of children in the Third World. The interests of working children in Britain were clearly of low priority in the years prior to the 1840 s, just as they are today in many underdeveloped countries around the globe. This thesis aims to draw attention to these similarities by revisiting the past and by trying to unravel the interconnected narratives that have produced the countless theories that seek to explain this phenomenon. This study also analyses the relationships between child labour on the one hand, and economic development and the socioeconomic structures of a society on the other and challenges the simplistic common belief that poverty is the cause of child labour and that child labour can be reduced only through economic development. One important conclusion of this study is that child labour is affected by the transformation of the economic and social structure rather than merely dictated by the economic necessities of households that supply child labourers. Thus the one thing that becomes abundantly clear from this study is that when it comes to understanding and evaluating child labour - regardless as to whether it is the spinning of cotton in a British mill of the nineteenth century or the weaving of carpets in a Pakistani factory of the twenty-first century - childhood and adulthood are interdependent and the ways in which children are treated are in turn a reflection of the values and priorities of adult society.
The development of environmental management systems and corporate responsibility reporting in NZ, UK and USA : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Environmental Management at Massey University, New Zealand
(Massey University, 2017) Martinez, Lucy
L. C. Martinez. The Development of Environmental Management Systems and Corporate Responsibility Reporting in NZ, UK and USA, 121 pages, 2 figures, 2017. The study reviews the initiation and development of environmental management systems (EMSs) and how EMS and corporate responsibility (CR) reporting developed over time in New Zealand, the United Kingdom (UK) and the United States of America (USA). Comparing the three countries provides New Zealand with a global perspective to identify if northern hemisphere countries have better systems. The study has two aims: 1. To compare and contrast the initiation and development of EMSs and CR reporting in New Zealand, the UK and the USA; and 2. To suggest strategies New Zealand’s government and businesses could use to improve EMS and CR reporting systems, and thereby strengthen the country’s business environmental performance. The scope of the thesis is the urban corporate and manufacturing sectors; the timeframe is from the mid-twentieth century to the present. Scholarly journal and media articles, industry publications and reference books used for the research were accessed via the ProQuest database, Massey University online library, the New York Public Library and Google. Results show that there has not been a clear and consistent pattern of EMS development in each study country, but each country has been a leader and innovator at different stages. An initial scan suggested that New Zealand has lower ISO 14001 certification numbers and CR reporting rates than the UK and USA. When examined more closely, results show that New Zealand’s ISO 14001 certification intensity (rather than raw numbers) is actually higher than the USA, although New Zealand and the USA both lag behind the UK. Results also show that CR reporting is now completely mainstream business practice worldwide. Despite this, New Zealand’s CR reporting is limited; unlike the other two study countries, this form of reporting is not legislated. Conclusions were that economic instruments in the UK and USA are shown to be an effective way to incentivise clean business practices and increase EMS uptake. Multinational companies increasingly scrutinize suppliers’ environmental credentials, which will impact New Zealand’s SMEs more into the future. ISO 14001 is a necessary universal tool to remain relevant in today’s global economy, which may incentivise higher uptake among New Zealand’s export businesses. It was recommended that New Zealand’s government form a legislative requirement for CR reporting, and firms should be encouraged to look to organizations such as the NZ Sustainable Business Council, the Global Reporting Initiative and the International Integrated Reporting Council for guidance on CR reporting.
Sir Walter Scott's templar construct : a study of contemporary influences on historical perceptions : a thesis presented in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History at Massey University, Extramural, New Zealand
(Massey University, 2017) Woodger, Jane Helen
Sir Walter Scott was a writer of historical fiction, but how accurate are his portrayals? The novels Ivanhoe and Talisman both feature Templars as the antagonists. Scott’s works display he had a fundamental knowledge of the Order and their fall. However, the novels are fiction, and the accuracy of some of the author’s depictions are questionable. As a result, the novels are more representative of events and thinking of the early nineteenth century than any other period. The main theme in both novels is the importance of unity and illustrating the destructive nature of any division. The protagonists unify under the banner of King Richard and the Templars pursue a course of independence. Scott’s works also helped to formulate notions of Scottish identity, Freemasonry (and their alleged forbearers the Templars) and Victorian behaviours. However, Scott’s image is only one of a long history of Templars featuring in literature over the centuries. Like Scott, the previous renditions of the Templars are more illustrations of the contemporary than historical accounts. One matter for unease in the early 1800s was religion and Catholic Emancipation. Scott was not a tolerant man when it came to the extremism of Christians, especially Catholics. The Templars are the ultimate fanatics during the Crusades, and Scott’s portrayal is rather scathing. His condemnation extends to Catholicism in general and is present in his characterisation of other men of religion in the novels. However, Scott was a writer of fictions set in history, and their sole purpose was the entertainment of the reader.
Trading in traditions : New Zealand's exports to the countries of the European Union, 1960 to 2000 : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in History at Massey University
(Massey University, 2004) Davenport, Carol
New Zealand has always been a nation strongly reliant on international trading. From the mid-nineteenth century wool was a major export commodity and with the advent of refrigeration in the 1880s sheepmeat and dairy products, especially butter,gained prominence. These three commodity types became the export staples of New Zealand, and remained so in 1960. Britain, in turn, was clearly the most prominent importer of these products. New Zealand exports of wool, sheepmeat and dairy products to Britain therefore became imbedded as the 'traditional' pattern of trade. An interest in how these traditions survived to the end of the twentieth century was the stimulus for this thesis, which is an historical investigation into New Zealand's recent export trade with the countries of today's European Union. Agreements made between New Zealand and Britain in the first half of the twentieth century consolidated what had been established since 1890 as a regular pattern of trade. The 1932 Ottawa Agreement gave New Zealand free and preferred access over non-Commonwealth countries for its agricultural products into Britain. 1 1. A comprehensive outline of New Zealand's trading history over this period can be found in, Muriel F. Lloyd Prichard, An Economic History of New Zealand to 1939, Auckland: Collins, 1970. The relationship was further tightened in the bulk purchase agreements of World War II. In the post-war period the trading relationship between New Zealand and Britain remained very close and interdependent.
The ancient Britons and the Roman invasions 55BC-61AD : an analysis of tribal resistance and response : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in Defence Studies at Massey University
(Massey University, 2003) Bradley, Carl Meredith
The aim of this thesis is to analyse the response to the Roman invasions of 55BC to 61AD from the tribal groupings of southern Britain. Much has been written of the activities of the Roman commanders and soldiers, but this thesis looks to analyse this period of invasion from the position of the tribes of southern Britain. The opening chapters will provide a descriptive account of the land and people who occupied southern Britain and a survey of tribal response to the Roman invasions. The reasons behind the differing responses to Rome will be offered with an analysis of the tribal politics that existed in southern Britain between Caesar's invasions of 55-54BC and the Claudian invasion of 43AD. Three case studies consider the central response to the Roman incursions. The first looks at the resistance offered to Caesar by the British warlord Cassivellaunus. The second case study highlights the initial response to Rome in 43AD by Caratacus and his brother Togodumnus. Following the initial fighting to stop the Roman invasion, Caratacus moved westward to carry on resistance to Rome in Wales. This thesis will follow those steps and will discuss the next stage of Caratacus' response. The third case study explores the Iceni revolt of 60ADunder the warrior queen Boudicca. The case studies allow comparisons between three periods of military response.Analysis of these three case studies enables the identification of a British tribal style of fighting while discussing the successes and failures of these tactics.
Placement and displacement : the fallen woman in discourse : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English at Massey University
(Massey University, 1993) Dacre, Anna
This thesis is an invitation to reconsider the process of reading and representing the fallen woman. It combines an eclectic theoretical approach, drawing on works by Foucault, Derrida and Kristeva, with the metaphor of colonisation and the palimpsest. Using this construction, the thesis examines the placement of the fallen woman in discourse. The first section discusses how she falls in discourse, and uses textual and visual examples (predominantly Esther Barton from Gaskell's Mary Barton, Monica Widdowson and Rhoda Nunn from Gissing's The Odd Women). The reading of these figures uncovers three characteristic issues in the fallen woman's representation: her construction as murderer, the 'justice' of her death, and her pornographic interaction with the reader. This examination of the placement of the fallen woman continues in the second section. Here, the thesis explores how representations of her placement in discourse also suggest a displacement--that is, how her fall in discourse is a fall from discourse. Reading her site as a palimpsest of colonising representations uncovers the placement and displacement of the fallen woman in discourse.

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