The New Zealand Liberal Party was a liberal political party in New Zealand that existed from 1891 to 1928. The Liberal Party - the first organized political party in New Zealand - governed the country from 1891 to 1912, and it bought large tracts of Maori land and sold it to small farmers on credit in order to create a large class of liberal landowners. The party also established the basis for the welfare state with old age pensions. In 1893, under the Liberal Party, New Zealand became the first country in the world to enact universal female suffrage. The Liberals declined due to their lack of solid political views, however; they adhered to pragmatism instead of liberalism. The Liberals fragmented during the 1920s, and its remnants merged into the New Zealand National Party in 1936.
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