The origins of assisted British migrants to Queensland 1871–1892

The aim of the present government is to encourage the introduction of emigrants from the mother country and failing this from the continent of Europe (The Queensland Treasurer, 1875). This article examines the origins of British migrants to Queensland between 1871 and 1892, a period when the government assisted over 150,000 British migrants to the colony. At first most assisted migrants came from industrial-urban areas and, except those from Ireland, had limited knowledge of rural life. In the 1880s the government canvassed the agricultural counties of eastern England to attract farm workers. Consequently, these areas became major source regions for assisted emigrants. Many assisted migrants, however, still had limited experience of rural life and on arrival in the colony preferred either to live in town or to move south. Despite these failures sufficient numbers of assisted British migrants remained to ensure the growth of the colony's agricultural economy.     

Party Interests,Public Opinion and Institutional Preferences: Electoral System Change in New Zealand

Explanations of the origins of electoral systems tend to rely heavily on rational choice assumptions: essentially the common sense inference that political parties prefer electoral arrangements that promote their interests. Accounts of electoral system change in New Zealand support either a partisan interest interpretation on the basis of survey evidence from voters, or point to other deeper causes in historical, institutional and cultural phenomena. Using survey data from the 1993 referendum, covering both voters and political party elites, we seek to reconcile these approaches by establishing the limits of the party interest approach. We construct an argument which also stresses the effects of cultural and institutional variables-most notably, many New Zealanders' frustrated expectations that governments be accountable between elections as well as on election day, and their hopes that multi-party government may facilitate such accountability.