Liberal March, The

DESCRIPTION: "We love our dear new land so bright, We sing of justice and of right." "We're marching on to victory... We're going to win the day." The pro-oligarchy politicians put the country into debt and gave away the land, but Samuel Vaile brings reform
AUTHOR: Words: James Adams
EARLIEST DATE: 1891 (source: Bailey/Roth-ShantiesByTheWay-NZ)
KEYWORDS: political New Zealand money worker nonballad
FOUND IN:
REFERENCES (1 citation):
Bailey/Roth-ShantiesByTheWay-NZ, p. 102, "The Liberal March" (1 partial text, tune references)
NOTES [190 words]: Bailey/Roth-ShantiesByTheWay-NZ list the tune of this as "So Early in the Morning," by which I think they mean "The Drunken Sailor (Early in the Morning)." But the text is a poor enough fit that I wonder if it wasn't sung to something else. Of course, it could just be an incompetent piece of versifying.
I wasn't able to find much about Samuel Vaile. He is not mentioned in Keith Sinclair's A History of New Zealand. I did find an obituary in the 17 April 1913 "Auckland Star" which seems to be of him. Vaile was born in Kensington, England, in 1828, He came with his parents to New Zealand in 1843, and trained as an architect. He tried to emigrate to California at the time of the Gold Rush, but was left on Pitcairn Island when the ship he was aboard came in for water but was unable to recover those who had gone ashore because of bad weather. Another ship took him back to New Zealand. He spent 1861-1869 in England, working with the poor, then returned to New Zealand and became a land agent. In the 1880s, he tried to force railroad reform. He three times failed to win election to parliament, and died in 1913 at the age of 85. - RBW
Last updated in version 4.3
File: BaRo102

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