New Liberal Party (New Zealand)

It was formed at a meeting in the Christchurch suburb of Papanui in June 1905[1][2] by two Liberal-aligned independents who sought a more "progressive" policy than that followed by the Liberal leader, Richard Seddon,[3] and was similar to the Radical Party in 1896.

The New Liberal Party was launched by Harry Bedford and Francis Fisher, but attracted a number of other MPs as well.

George Laurenson, Frederick Baume, Alexander Hogg, William Tanner, and William Barber, all dissident Liberal MPs, associated themselves with the party, and two independents who had formerly been aligned with the loose opposition block, Ewen Alison and Alfred Harding, also joined.

Some Liberal dissidents, however, refused to be involved in the new party - the most notable being John Millar, George Fowlds, and Robert McNab.

The New Liberals suffered considerable damage from the so-called "voucher incident",[4] in which Francis Fisher alleged that Richard Seddon's son had been received payment from a government department for work he had not done.