After the abolition of the provinces the Liberal propaganda conducted by Sir George Grey extended its influence to Marlborough, and one sign of the spreading reaction against the old Conservative party was the defeat of Mr. Seymour by Mr. Dodson, an advanced liberal, who was elected for the Wairau in 1881. At the same election Mr. Eyes stood for Picton, but was beaten by that able lawyer, Mr. E. T. Conolly, afterwards Minister of Justice in two Governments, and later still a Judge of the Supreme Court. In 1884, Mr. Dodson defeated Mr. Joseph Ward, another representative of the old landed aristocracy in Marlborough, who then withdrew from public life. In 1887, Mr. Dodson was once more successful at the polls, and Mr. Conolly, who now gave up politics, was succeeded by Mr. A. P. Seymour, as member for Picton. By 1890, the year of the “great strike,” the Liberal and Labour party had gained so strong a hold upon the district that when Mr. Dodson retired from the Wairau they were able to elect, in opposition to Mr. Seymour, a young and almost unknown politician, Mr. T. L. Buick. In the same year Mr. Charles Houghton Mills, who has been for some years a member of Mr. Seddon's Cabinet, first appeared in Parliament as member for Waimea Sounds district.

It is impossible in this brief sketch of Marlborough's political history to do more than mention the name of many of Marlborough's public men who won honourable reputations for themselves, both in local politics and in the wider field of Parliamentary life. In the Upper House Marlborough is still represented by Captain Baillie, the oldest member of the Legislative Council, and once Superintendent of Marlborough, and by Captain Kenny who has been a prominent figure in Parliamentary history for fully twenty years. These two survivers of the old Conservative regime may help to remind us of the intensity of the struggle that was waged for many years in Marlborough between the reactionary and the progressive political parties. In no other district in the colony were the issues so clearly defined between Conservatism and Liberalism, and in none was the struggle more obstinate and doubtful. But the political history of Marlborough may well be a source of pride to the people of the district, for in the words of the historian of “Old Marlborough,” “as she was served at home by able men she has also sent to the counsels of the colony others who have obtained because they have deserved the respect and confidence of their fellow-members.”