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Story: Political values

Call for self-government

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Call for self-government

A free press, one of the features of a democratic society, became part of colonial New Zealand society from its very beginnings. This 1848 story from the Wellington Independent newspaper highlights Wellingtonians’ wish to institute democratic government – as opposed to governance by an unelected group – emphasising settlers’ beliefs that they were entitled to have political rights at least equal to those of British citizens in the ‘mother country’.

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National Library of New Zealand, Papers Past

Reference: Wellington Independent. 23 December 1848, p. 2

Permission of the National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.

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How to cite this page

Stephen Levine, Political values – Enduring political values, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/en/document/36559/call-for-self-government (accessed 4 June 2026).

Story by Stephen Levine, published 29 May 2012.