Rutherford Waddell

Rutherford Waddell (1850–1932) was a notable New Zealand presbyterian minister, social reformer and writer. He was born in Ballyroney, County Down, Ireland in about 1850.

Waddell migrated to New Zealand in 1877, settling in Dunedin where he led St. Andrew's Church from 1879. An active believer in the value of the ministry to promote social justice, he was a founder in 1888 of the Dunedin and Suburban Reserves Conservation Society, and aided the setting up a mission hall, savings bank, free library and free kindergarten within his parish, as well as promoting the founding of a variety of cultural and sporting groups.

Waddell's most notable accomplishment in early New Zealand, however, was his crusade against sweat shops. In October 1888, his sermon "On the sin of cheapness", stirred many of the local community into action, and the cause was taken up by Sir George Fenwick, editor of the Otago Daily Times, and the paper's chief reporter Silas Spragg. In 1890 a royal commission on sweating was established, and formed the basis of many of the country's social reforms of the following decade. Waddell was a believer in the value of trade unions, and became the first president of the Tailoresses' Union of New Zealand in July 1889.

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