Alfred Domett

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Alfred Domett

Alfred Domett , CMG (born May 20, 1811 in Camberwell , England , † November 2, 1887 in London ) was an Anglo-New Zealand politician and poet. He was the fourth Prime Minister of New Zealand and ruled from August 6, 1862 to October 30, 1863.

Life

Early years

Domett studied law at St John's College of Cambridge University . In 1833 he broke off his studies and traveled extensively in the USA , Canada and the Caribbean . In Canada he worked as a geodesist for a short time . After his return he was in literary circles. Among other things, he was close friends with Robert Browning , who also came from Camberwell and was immortalized by Domett in the poem Waring . In 1841 Domett took up a practice as a lawyer, but in 1842 he decided to emigrate to New Zealand.

After arriving in Nelson , he first tried his hand at farming , but then pursued a career as a journalist . After the Wairau tumult in June 1843, the first armed conflict between Europeans and Māori , Domett was commissioned by the angry settlers to demand retaliation from the New Zealand colonial government. When the government refused to severely punish the Māori involved, Domett became one of the harshest critics. He drafted a petition that led to the removal of Governor Robert FitzRoy in November 1845 .

Political career

Domett's long civil service career began in 1848 after Governor George Gray appointed him Colonial Secretary of the South Island's New Munster on the Cook Strait . Domett's ideas for a freely accessible, compulsory and confessionally mixed school system were ridiculed and referred to as "absurd" by the provincial governments, but were adopted almost unchanged in the 1877 School Act.

From 1854 to 1856 he was the magistrate of the Hawke's Bay province and laid down the development plan for the city of Napier . In 1855 he was elected to the newly created New Zealand parliament as a member of Nelson’s parliament. In 1856 he married the widowed teacher Mary George. From 1857 he held office as a member of parliament and that of a provincial council in Nelson. In addition, he was appointed director of Nelson College in 1858 and laid the foundation stone for the Parliamentary Library.

prime minister

When Edward Stafford's government was defeated in a vote of no confidence in August 1862 , Domett was offered the office of Prime Minister, which he accepted. Shortly afterwards he came under fire because he was often absent for several days in order to then present a lengthy document with which the other ministers did not know what to do with. He planned to settle 20,000 immigrants on expropriated Māori land and to equip them with weapons. His intransigent attitude towards the Māori, in particular the extensive land expropriations and his attempt to shift all responsibility for violent incidents on to the British government, finally led to the break of the government after 14 months. Domett lost a vote of no confidence in late October 1863 and was replaced by Frederick Whitaker .

Further offices and later years

After his resignation, Domett returned to the civil service and worked as a secretary for the Crown Lands Office , which administered the state-owned land and prepared it for settlement. In addition, he continued to work as a member of parliament and spent a lot of time building the parliamentary library. In November 1863, he applied to move the capital to Wellington , as numerous representatives of the South Island sought independence. Literally it said: "It has become necessary to move the seat of government ... to a suitable location on the Cook Strait". The application was accepted and implemented two years later.

In 1871 Domett retired and returned to his native England, where he stayed for the rest of his life. He renewed friendship with Robert Browning , worked as a poet and was appointed Commander of the Order of St. Michael and St. George in 1880 . The Conservative Party offered to run for a seat in the House of Commons , but Domett declined. He died in London at the age of 78.

Literary work

After 1833, Domett published numerous poems in Blackwood's Magazine . One of them, A Christmas Hymn , received more attention. In 1871 he wrote his main work Ranolf and Amohia, a South Sea Day Dream , a 14,000-line poem about the love of a Māori girl with a young Englishman. The idealization of the Māori culture in this poem contrasts strongly with the expropriations of the indigenous people that he ordered. Critics praised the detailed description of the landscape, but considered the work to be too confused and excessive. While the New Zealanders were quite impressed, the enthusiasm in Great Britain was limited. In 1883 a second edition appeared, which was 4,000 lines longer than the first. The poem Jetsam and Flotsam , written in 1877, was dedicated to Domett's longtime friend Robert Browning .

  • Flotsam and jetsam. Rhymes old and new . Paul, Trench & Co, London 1877
  • Ranolf and Amohia. A South Sea day dream . Smith Elder, London 1973
  • Ranolf and Amohia. A dream of two lives . Smith Elder, London 1883

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