Robert Stout - Premier

Premier

In August 1884, only a month after returning to parliament, Stout successfully passed a vote of no confidence in the conservative Harry Atkinson, and assumed the premiership. Julius Vogel was made treasurer, thereby gaining a considerable measure of power in the administration. Stout's new government lasted less than two weeks, however, with Atkinson managing to pass his own vote of no confidence against Stout. Atkinson himself, however, failed to establish a government, and was removed by yet another vote of no confidence. Stout and Vogel returned to power once again.

Stout's second government lasted considerably longer than his first. Its primary achievements were the reform of the civil service and a program to increase the number of secondary schools in the country. It also organised the construction of the Midland railway line between Canterbury and the West Coast. The economy, however, did not prosper, with all attempts to pull it out of depression failing. In the 1887 election, Stout himself lost his seat in parliament to James Allen by twenty-nine votes, thereby ending his premiership. Harry Atkinson, Stout's old rival, was able to form a new government after the election.

At this point, Stout decided to leave parliamentary politics altogether, and instead focus on other avenues for promoting liberal views. In particular, he was interested in resolving the growing labour disputes of the time. He was highly active in building consensus between the growing labour movement and the world of middle-class liberalism.