Management and the Free-Standing Company: The New Zealand and Australia Land Company c. 1866–1900

Abstract

The scholarly reappraisal of the British imperial system as the ‘British World’ has given scholars the opportunity to examine anew the financial, commercial and industrial ties which held the empire together. This article examines the experience of one such tie, the New Zealand and Australian Land Company, a Scottish-based agricultural and land company which operated in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Australasia. This company contributed to the colonies' economic development directly, opening up new farming lands and initiating wool and protein exports, as well as influencing the development of the communities which grew up around its stations and factories. The article details the strategic development of the company until c. 1900 in the wider context of Australia and New Zealand's economic development, demonstrating that studying the evolution of commercial organisations can contribute to the wider debate around the role of British capital in development.