Cheviot Hills, an 84,000 acre North Canterbury sheep run, was a symbol of vast and impregnable wealth to nineteenth-century New Zealand. But in the 1890s it became the first 'big estate’ acquired by the Liberal Government and broken up into small farms. Jim Gardner, a former Canterbury University historian, tells the fascinating story of the first great battle of a government championing the rights of land-hungry New Zealanders. But it is also a story about the emerging supremacy of Cabinet government and the development of modern politics.
Table of contents
Acknowledgements Notes List of tables and maps Introduction
1. William Robinson and Cheviot Hills 2. The Robinson inheritance 3. Harry Bell – Between Wellington and Cheviot 4. Harry Bell – Between Sara and Emily 5. Towards a private sale of Cheviot 6. Towards the public sale of Cheviot 7. 'Bursting up the big estates' 8. 'Putting the small man on the land' 9. The decision to acquire Cheviot 10. Turning Cheviot into cash 11. The politics of Cheviot – Cabinet and parliament 12. The politics of Cheviot – A settlement for Canterbury 13. Preparing the site 14. The Cheviot settlement 15. The Cheviot settlers 16. Cheviots to come