William Pember Reeves

• Honorific Prefix — The Honourable • Name — William Pember Reeves • Order1 — 5th High Commissioner to the United Kingdom • Term Start1 — December 1896 • Term End1 — December 1908 • Monarch1 — Victoria Edward VII • Prime Minister1 — Richard Seddon • Predecessor1 — Westby Perceval • Successor1 — William Hall-Jones • Order2 — 1st Minister of Labour • Term Start2 — 31 May 1892 • Term End2 — 10 January 1896 • Prime Minister2 — John Ballance Richard Seddon • Successor2 — Richard Seddon • Order3 — 9th Minister of Education • Term Start3 — 24 January 1891 • Term End3 — 10 January 1896 • Prime Minister3 — John Ballance Richard Seddon • Predecessor3 — Thomas William Hislop • Successor3 — William Campbell Walker • Constituency Mp6 — City of Christchurch • Parliament6 — New Zealand • Term Start6 — 5 December 1890 • Term End6 — 13 February 1896 • Predecessor6 — Constituency recreated • Successor6 — Charles Lewis • Constituency Mp7 — St Albans • Parliament7 — New Zealand • Term Start7 — 26 September 1887 • Term End7 — 5 December 1890 • Predecessor7 — Francis James Garrick • Successor7 — Constituency abolished • Born — 10 February 1857 • Birthplace — Lyttelton, New Zealand • Died — 16 May 1932 • Place of death — London, England • Parents — William Reeves (father) Ellen Pember (mother) • Children — 3, including Amber Reeves • Spouse — Magdalen Stuart Robison • Occupation — Lawyer and journalist • Party — Liberal William Pember Reeves (10 February 1857 – 16 May 1932) was a New Zealand politician, cricketer, historian and poet who is most notable for his role in the creation of New Zealand's system of industrial relations as Minister of Labour during the Liberal Government of 1891 to 1912.

Reeves's parents were William Reeves, who was a journalist and politician, and Ellen Reeves (Pember). They had migrated from Britain to Canterbury Province in 1857, arriving three weeks before he was born. He was educated at a private prep school in Christchurch, the local high school and, from 1867 to 1874, Christ's College Grammar School. Before entering politics, Reeves was a lawyer and journalist. He was editor of the Canterbury Times in 1885 and the Lyttelton Times (1889–1891).

Reeves played in five first-class cricket matches for Canterbury from 1879 to 1888. A batsman, his highest score was 54, Canterbury's top score in the match, when Canterbury beat Otago by four runs in February 1883. In his last first-class match, played in January 1888 while he was a Member of Parliament, he top-scored for Canterbury with 31 in the second innings. Reeves was described as "a steady, thoughtful batsman, a hard man to get out". But he was erratic in his judgement of when to run, a failing he commemorated in one of his poems, "No Judge of a Run: A Lament of Cricket".

Reeves represented the Christchurch electorate of St Albans in Parliament from 1887 to 1890, and then Christchurch from 1890 to 1896, when he resigned to take up the post of Agent General. During the premierships of John Ballance (1891–93) and Richard Seddon (1893–1906) he served as Minister of Labour (1892–96), Minister of Education (1891–96), Minister of Justice (1891–92, 1893, 1895–96) and Commissioner of Stamp Duties (1892–96). As Minister of Labour he introduced the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act 1894 and the Undesirable Immigrants Exclusion Bill, which, if it had been passed, would have barred poor and Asian immigrants from the country. His opposition to the entry of those he considered "undesirable" immigrants earned him the nickname "Undesirable Bill" Reeves.

In January 1896 Reeves left New Zealand for London, where he was Agent General (1896–1905) and High Commissioner (1905–08). While he was in Britain Reeves became a friend of a number of left-wing intellectuals, such as George Bernard Shaw, H. G. Wells, and Sidney and Beatrice Webb, all leading members of the Fabian Society. He was also a member of the Coefficients dining club of social reformers. • Illustration — William Pember Reeves in 1925 Reeves became Director of the London School of Economics (1908–19) and President of the Anglo-Hellenic League (1913–25). He also headed the committee organising the First Universal Races Congress in London in 1911. Finally, he was chairman of the board of the National Bank of New Zealand from 1917 to 1931. Reeves's more influential writings include his history of New Zealand, The Long White Cloud (1898) and State Experiments in Australia and New Zealand (1902). He also published a number of poems, such as "The Passing of the Forest" and "A Colonist in his Garden". Reeves married Magdalen Stuart Robison in 1885. She was a feminist who later joined the Fabian Society. They had two daughters, the feminist writer Amber Reeves (born 1887) and Beryl (born 1889), and one son, Fabian Pember Reeves (1895–1917), who was killed in the First World War, aged 21, as a Flight Lieutenant in the RNAS. Reeves three times declined offers of a knighthood.

* * * • State Experiments in Australia & New Zealand. London: Grant Richards. 1902. *