Arriving in New Zealand in 1866, he became the miners’ advocate and was elected (1881) as parliamentary member for Kumara. He was Minister of Public Works in Balance’s first Liberal government and Premier from Ballance’s death in 1893. Seddon oversaw the introduction of a range of radical legislation including low-interest credit for farmers, women’s suffrage, the Industrial Conciliation and Arbitration Act, old age pensions, free places in secondary schools, and a State Fire Insurance Office.