From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia New Zealand Democrat Party (1934)
New Zealand Democrat Party (1934)
This article is about the pro-business party founded in So the New Zealand Democrat Party was founded. Its
1934. It should not be confused with the modern primary base of support was the business community,
Democratic Party. particularly in Auckland. Before long, however, Davy and
Goodfellow came into conflict. The most notable cause
The New Zealand Democrat Party was a political party in for dispute was the scale of Davy’s plans — Goodfellow
New Zealand, founded in 1934 with the purpose of oppos- had wanted a small party focused on winning a select few
ing "socialist" legislation by the government. seats, but Davy was recruiting candidates as though the
The Democrat Party was founded and developed by Democrats were a major party. Goodfellow tried to re-
Albert Davy, a prominent political organiser of the time. move Davy from the chairmanship of the Democrats in
Davy had worked first for the Reform Party, then for the July 1935, and later initiated court proceedings to recov-
United Party, and finally for Reform again. He was high- er part of the salary Davy had been paid. Davy remained
ly effective in both campaign management and fundrais- in office, however, and the Democrat Party continued on.
ing, but often came into conflict with those he worked A former Mayor of Wellington, Thomas Charles Hislop,
for. Politically, Davy was an advocate of reducing the size was recruited as the party’s political leader, while Davy
of government, and of minimising government interven- remained its chief organiser and strategist.
tion in the business world — the slogan "More Business In the 1935 elections, Davy’s campaign was not as
in Government, Less Government in Business", once used effective as his previous efforts. The Democrats fielded
by the Reform Party, was thought up by Davy. When the fifty-one candidates, but did not win any seats. In total,
United Party and the Reform Party formed a coalition, they won around 7.9% of the national vote (66,965 votes).
Davy initially supported it, but later resigned in protest Despite their failure to enter Parliament, their impact on
at the legislation the coalition enacted to counter the the election may have been the opposite to what was in-
Great Depression. Davy denounced the coalition as "so- tended — by splitting the anti-Labour vote they probably
cialistic by inclination, action and fact". contributed to Labour’s overwhelming victory in 1935.
In 1934, Davy was approached by William Goodfellow, Among their candidates were future National MPs Fred-
a wealthy Auckland businessman and industrialist. Good- erick Doidge and Matthew Oram.
fellow strongly opposed the economic policies of the Davy himself went on to found the People’s Move-
United-Reform coalition, and was also concerned by the ment and the New Zealand Co-operative Party but even-
rise of the Labour Party. Goodfellow hoped that a small tually retired from politics and returned to business.
but committed party could hold the balance of power
in Parliament, and force the government to adopt more
business-friendly policies. It was hoped by Goodfellow External links
and his allies that Davy’s talents could create an effective • The Democrat Party from the 1966 Encyclopaedia of
organisation. New Zealand
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Categories:
• Political parties established in 1934
• Political parties in New Zealand
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