title: John Watson Walker: a leading mine manager

authors: Hart, Philip

abstract: After successfully mining in Victoria, in 1869 John Watson Walker was invited to report on Thames mines, and subsequently was asked to stay on as a mine manager. Despite his high reputation as both a manager and company director, in 1881 some shareholders in one company  sought his dismissal because he had failed to find rich gold (!). From the 1880s onwards, he envisaged obtaining English capital to enable the development of much larger areas than those traditionally worked. 
Involved in most Hauraki fields (and beyond) as an investor if not a miner, in the 1880s he was for a time a publican at Te Aroha, and in the following decade acquired a farm nearby. He struggled financially in both decades, and moved from goldfield to goldfield trying to develop his ‘gigantic’ schemes, making several trips to London over more than 20 years in usually fruitless attempts to raise capital. As the first supervisor for the Waihi Company, he investigated new treatment processes, but resigned his position shortly before cyanide was proved to the ideal one. At Thames, his ‘gigantic’ scheme was to work the low levels, and at Te Aroha he attempted to develop a large area of unpayable ground. All his schemes depended not only on attracting overseas capital but on obtaining concessions from both government and union. His last efforts to develop mining on a massive scale were at Waihi, in the early twentieth century.
Walker was seen as being a skilled and practical miner, whose opinions were taken seriously. On behalf of investors, he investigated some new areas, and achieved fame for exposing an attempted fraud near Wellington. He attempted to assist the interests of the industry, and urged the need for capital and labour to work together harmoniously. He was outspokenly critical of the Liberal Government’s mining legislation, which he claimed scared capital away. 
He could be arrogant, as illustrated on several occasions, notably when participating in shooting matches in the early 1870s. And a question must be raised about his treatment of his first wife. But as a mine manager, he excelled, even if his schemes to work large areas were over-sanguine and lacked credibility both because he did not understand the geology and because he over-estimated his ability to raise capital and to get his way with both government and the union.

text: John Watson Walker: a leading mine manager After successfully mining in Victoria, in 1869 John Watson Walker was invited to report on Thames mines, and subsequently was asked to stay on as a mine manager. Despite his high reputation as both a manager and company director, in 1881 some shareholders in one company  sought his dismissal because he had failed to find rich gold (!). From the 1880s onwards, he envisaged obtaining English capital to enable the development of much larger areas than those traditionally worked. 
Involved in most Hauraki fields (and beyond) as an investor if not a miner, in the 1880s he was for a time a publican at Te Aroha, and in the following decade acquired a farm nearby. He struggled financially in both decades, and moved from goldfield to goldfield trying to develop his ‘gigantic’ schemes, making several trips to London over more than 20 years in usually fruitless attempts to raise capital. As the first supervisor for the Waihi Company, he investigated new treatment processes, but resigned his position shortly before cyanide was proved to the ideal one. At Thames, his ‘gigantic’ scheme was to work the low levels, and at Te Aroha he attempted to develop a large area of unpayable ground. All his schemes depended not only on attracting overseas capital but on obtaining concessions from both government and union. His last efforts to develop mining on a massive scale were at Waihi, in the early twentieth century.
Walker was seen as being a skilled and practical miner, whose opinions were taken seriously. On behalf of investors, he investigated some new areas, and achieved fame for exposing an attempted fraud near Wellington. He attempted to assist the interests of the industry, and urged the need for capital and labour to work together harmoniously. He was outspokenly critical of the Liberal Government’s mining legislation, which he claimed scared capital away. 
He could be arrogant, as illustrated on several occasions, notably when participating in shooting matches in the early 1870s. And a question must be raised about his treatment of his first wife. But as a mine manager, he excelled, even if his schemes to work large areas were over-sanguine and lacked credibility both because he did not understand the geology and because he over-estimated his ability to raise capital and to get his way with both government and the union.

year: 2016

title: Psychological ownership in small family-owned businesses: Leadership style and nonfamily-employees’ work attitudes and behaviors

authors: Bernhard, Fabian

subjects: family business

abstract: Using a sample of 229 nonfamily employees working in 52 small family-owned businesses, we examined the relationships between owner-managers’ leadership style and employees’ psychological ownership of the family business and their job. We also examined whether psychological ownership mediated the link between leadership style and employees’ organizational attitudes and behaviors. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analysis confirmed transformational and transactional leadership as contextual facilitators of psychological ownership for the family business and for the job. Passive (laissez-faire) leadership was negatively related to employees’ ownership feelings for the family business. Psychological ownership of the organization and the job mediated the relationship between leadership style and affective organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. In addition, feelings of psychological ownership for the family business mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Implications for research and practice are discussed.

text: Psychological ownership in small family-owned businesses: Leadership style and nonfamily-employees’ work attitudes and behaviors Using a sample of 229 nonfamily employees working in 52 small family-owned businesses, we examined the relationships between owner-managers’ leadership style and employees’ psychological ownership of the family business and their job. We also examined whether psychological ownership mediated the link between leadership style and employees’ organizational attitudes and behaviors. Hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) analysis confirmed transformational and transactional leadership as contextual facilitators of psychological ownership for the family business and for the job. Passive (laissez-faire) leadership was negatively related to employees’ ownership feelings for the family business. Psychological ownership of the organization and the job mediated the relationship between leadership style and affective organizational commitment, job satisfaction, and turnover intentions. In addition, feelings of psychological ownership for the family business mediated the relationship between transformational leadership and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). Implications for research and practice are discussed.

year: 2011

title: The peopling and development of Aotearoa New Zealand: A demographic history, 1769-2020

authors: Pool, Ian

subjects: Aotearoa

abstract: This unpublished manuscript is the first demographic history of Aotearoa New Zealand, integrating 250 years of Māori and non-Māori data. It explores how development, in the broadest social, cultural and economic sense drove population changes, but was in turn driven by demographic factors. Based on extensively referenced research and analysis, the timeline starts with the earliest European settlement and finishes with the multicultural and aging society of the first decades of the twenty-first century.  It encompasses momentous changes, including: successive waves of migration, European settler demographic dominance occurring rapidly through natural increase, Māori nineteenth century cultural devastation and population decline, and twentieth-century resurgence, the Māori rural/urban exodus beginning in the 1940s, and the post-war non-Māori baby boom and baby bust. At each stage, this book demonstrates how profoundly the story of Aotearoa New Zealand is also the demographic story of its peopling.

text: The peopling and development of Aotearoa New Zealand: A demographic history, 1769-2020 This unpublished manuscript is the first demographic history of Aotearoa New Zealand, integrating 250 years of Māori and non-Māori data. It explores how development, in the broadest social, cultural and economic sense drove population changes, but was in turn driven by demographic factors. Based on extensively referenced research and analysis, the timeline starts with the earliest European settlement and finishes with the multicultural and aging society of the first decades of the twenty-first century.  It encompasses momentous changes, including: successive waves of migration, European settler demographic dominance occurring rapidly through natural increase, Māori nineteenth century cultural devastation and population decline, and twentieth-century resurgence, the Māori rural/urban exodus beginning in the 1940s, and the post-war non-Māori baby boom and baby bust. At each stage, this book demonstrates how profoundly the story of Aotearoa New Zealand is also the demographic story of its peopling.

year: 2026