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quo of the landless and ‘dependent wage labourer’ in the ‘Old Country’, 41 and those simply
caught up in the urban turmoil of a highly industrial nation who longed for the simple country
life. Although the traditional values of ‘innate moderation’ have, in this case, been replaced by the
work ethic and individual progress, an implied ‘moral sensibility’ results from this virtuous
labour. 42 What is more, the “country is praised because its strong labour market maintains
security of employment and high wages; food in the colony is cheap and plentiful (especially
meat); here even labouring men can hunt game and ride horses; New Zealand is a wonderful
place to work in as hours are comparatively short and the employer treats you as an equal”. 43 In
other words, this paradise was “predicated upon an imagined endless stock of natural riches”, and
therefore also an endless number of available opportunities, where the “deprived and the
oppressed [could] […] achieve the economic independence necessary for their social
independence and individual self-reliance”. 44
The third Arcadian image is the ‘middle-class paradise’ which “appealed to the propertied,
to those who arrived in the colony with capital and to those who arrived without capital but
subsequently won competencies”, whereby it was believed “New Zealand’s natural abundance
and minimal social organisation prevented social conflict (notably class-driven conflict) and
status anxiety”. 45 This image was, first of all, borne out of the belief that the working class were
happily content with their better and harmonious lifestyle, which lacked the coercive paternalism
of the law, police and masters and provided higher wages, which in turn “eliminated their radical
and anti-social tendencies” because they obtained more from legal means than illegal, and hence
had no need to steal. This was followed by better prospects at property ownership, resulting in a
better character and greater sense of law and order, and, most importantly, no economic conflict
“since the bountiful natural resources of New Zealand permitted each individual to increase his
supply of economic satisfactions without reducing the supply to anyone else”, 46 all of which
helped create the idealised image of a safe and orderly “crimeless society”. 47 Thus, two important
Arcadian facets existed in this “tranquil society”. The first was the “sense of bliss felt by the
middle classes in response to the safety of their lives and property” and the “security from
41
See Rollo Arnold, The Farthest Promised Land: English Villagers, New Zealand Immigrants of the 1870s.
Wellington: Victoria University Press; Price Milburn, 1981, 18-35.
42
Fairburn, The Ideal Society, 59.
43
Ibid., 45; cf. Arnold, The Farthest Promised Land, 242-49, 252-54, 256-60.
44
Fairburn, The Ideal Society, 58.
45
Ibid., 61.
46
Ibid., 64.
47
Ibid., 61-67.
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