Votes, Depressions & Refrigerators

After the wars, politicians had to figure out how to run the new country. Bold choices saw huge spending on infrastructure, the right of women to vote and the start of refrigeration, helping us out of The Long Depression. A new politics arose but old values remained.

The New Zealand Wars are over... what comes next? A whole lot of political wrangling over how to run the new colony - centralism or provinces? Plus - how refrigeration saved the Kiwi economy from the brink of disaster and how women won the right to vote.

Watch the video version of the episode here

Topics covered:

• Provincialism versus Centralism
• Julius Vogel and the "Grand Go-Ahead policy"
• The Long Depression and its impact on New Zealanders
• How the invention of refrigerated shipping saved the economy.
• Disputes over voting, including gold miners and Māori representation in Parliament.
• How women won the right to vote
• The exclusion of Chinese people from NZ society.
• The early Labour Movement and the Great Strike of 1913

Go to this episode on rnz.co.nz for more details