Edward Pulsford - Colonial Politics

Colonial Politics

From its foundation until 1891, Pulsford was secretary of the FTLA, and became an organiser and ferocious pamphleteer. He received a prize for an essay on "The Beneficial Influence of a Free Trade Policy upon the Colony of New South Wales", written as a contribution to the 1887 centennial edition of the Year-Book of Australia. He became actively involved in journalism as proprietor of the Armidale Chronicle and financial editor of the Daily Telegraph from 1890 to 1898. While focusing overwhelmingly on free trade, actively denigrating the neighbouring colony of Victoria's protectionist policies, he also worked on the compilation of an Australian biographical supplement to Webster's International Dictionary and supported Federation.

Pulsford was a leading proponent of the free-trade cause, although an intended candidacy for the New South Wales Legislative Assembly in 1891 did not eventuate. He had contested a by-election for East Sydney earlier that year, losing to protectionist candidate Walter Bradley. He was nevertheless nominated to the New South Wales Legislative Council in 1895 by the Free Trade Premier, George Reid. He continued his support of free trade policies, but differentiated himself from his colleagues by firmly opposing restrictions on Asian immigration. He had expressed regret concerning the fate of the Australian Aborigines in a Telegraph article in 1888 and also opposed Sir Henry Parkes's poll tax on the Chinese, and now opposed the continuing restrictive measures passed in 1896 and 1898. He served as president of the Australian Free Trade and Liberal Association's New South Wales branch in 1900 and was deputy president of the federal election campaign committee, standing himself for the Senate in New South Wales.