Divisions of the Crown colony in the Pacific Ocean
The
provinces
of the
Colony of New Zealand
existed as a form of
sub-national government
. Initially established in 1846 when New Zealand was a
Crown colony
without
responsible government
, two provinces (
New Ulster
and
New Munster
) were first created. Each province had its own
legislative council
and governor. With the passing of the
New Zealand Constitution Act 1852
the provinces were recreated around the six planned settlements or "colonies".
By 1873 the number of provinces had increased to nine, but they had become less isolated from each other and demands for centralised government arose. In 1875 the
New Zealand Parliament
decided to abolish the provincial governments, and they came to an end in November 1876. They were superseded by
counties
, which were later replaced by
territorial authorities
.
Following abolition, the provinces became known as
provincial districts
. Their principal legacy is the use of some provincial boundaries to determine the geographical boundaries for anniversary day
public holidays
.
Crown Colony: 1841?1853
[
edit
]
Following the
Treaty of Waitangi
in 1840,
New Zealand
became a British colony, initially as part of
New South Wales
.
The
Royal Charter
of November 1840
[2]
stated that the islands of New Zealand were "designated and known respectively" as:
These names were of geographic significance only.
[4]
New Zealand became a separate
Crown Colony
from New South Wales in May 1841.
In 1846 the
British Parliament
passed the first
New Zealand Constitution Act
, which allowed for the establishment of provinces. Governor
George Grey
arrived in New Zealand in November 1845, and upon reading the new Constitution Act in May 1847 argued for its suspension in dispatches to the Colonial Office.
Before this occurred, Grey proclaimed the provincial boundaries on 10 March 1848:
- New Ulster (the North Island, north of the
Patea River
mouth)
- New Munster (the North Island south of the
Patea River
mouth, the South Island and Stewart Island/Rakiura)
Each province had a
Lieutenant-Governor
, appointed by the Governor-in-Chief.
The 1846 Constitution Act was suspended in early 1848, with the only operative provisions relating to the reform of the provinces. News of the suspension did not reach New Zealand until 23 March 1848, when the immigrant ship
John Wickliffe
arrived in
Port Chalmers
to begin European settlement of Otago.
In addition, the provinces were separated from the central government for the first time.
New Ulster and New Munster had their own seals.
[7]
Responsible Government: 1853?1876
[
edit
]
New provinces were formed by the
New Zealand Constitution Act 1852
. This Act established a quasi-federal system of government and divided the country into the six provinces of
Auckland
,
New Plymouth
,
Wellington
,
Nelson
,
Canterbury
, and
Otago
.
[8]
[9]
Each province elected its own legislature known as a provincial council, and elected a
superintendent
who was not a member of the council.
[10]
The councils elected their speaker at their first meeting after elections.
[11]
The Act also created a national
General Assembly
consisting of the
Legislative Council
(appointed by the
governor
) and the directly elected
House of Representatives
. These provinces came into effect on 17 January 1853 and the regulations defining the boundaries of the provinces were gazetted on 28 February. Electoral regulations were gazetted on 5 March.
[11]
As with general elections, elections were open to males 21 years or older who owned freehold property worth £50 a year. The
first provincial elections
were held at the same time as the
1853 general elections
.
While Governor
George Grey
had issued the writs for the provincial and general elections at the same time, the provincial councils met before the general assembly met, in May 1854.
The New Zealand Constitution Amendment Act 1857 provided for the appointment of a deputy superintendent.
New Provinces Act 1858
[
edit
]
The Constitution Act provided for the creation of additional provinces, and when the spread of European settlements between the original centres of the provincial governments and the outlying settlers grew, the General Assembly passed the New Provinces Act 1858.
[14]
This Act allowed any district of between 500 thousand and 3 million acres
(2,000?12,000 km
2
)
of land with a European population of no fewer than 1,000 people to petition for separation provided that at least 60% of electors agreed. As a result,
Hawke's Bay Province
separated from Wellington on 1 November 1858;
Marlborough Province
from Nelson on 1 November 1859; and
Southland Province
from Otago on 1 April 1861. New Plymouth also changed its name to Taranaki under the same Act.
[11]
Stewart Island/Rakiura, which had since 1853 not been part of any province, was annexed to the province of Southland on 10 November 1863.
[15]
Provinces established under this act elected their superintendents in a different way. Members of the provincial council would elect a suitable person listed on the electoral roll as superintendent by a majority. If such a person was an elected member, this would result in a by-election to fill the vacancy.
[14]
- ^
Renamed Taranaki from 1 January 1859
- ^
Independent county 1 January 1868
- ^
Reunited with Otago
Abolition of Provinces Act 1875
[
edit
]
The provinces have broken down because of their coming into conflict with the colonial government on many points, and especially on points of finance. Their doom was only a question of time, when it became obvious that they could not raise their own revenue; that they had to look to the general government to supply deficiencies; and that they could not borrow without the colony becoming liable.
Almost as soon as they were founded, New Zealand's provinces were the subject of protracted political debate. Two factions emerged in the
General Assembly
: "Centralists", favouring a strong central government and "Provincialists", favouring strong regional governments. The Centralist members of the General Assembly regarded the provinces as inherently self-interested, and prone to
pork-barrel
politics. In the construction of railways, for example, three of the provinces had constructed railways (as was the case in Australia) to different
track gauges
, with
Canterbury Provincial Railways
being built to "broad" gauge, Southland's railways being built to "standard" gauge. As a result, the Public Works Act of 1870 standardised the gauge to be used, and Otago's first railway, the
Port Chalmers railway
, was built to the new "standard" narrow gauge. Colonial Treasurer (and later Premier)
Julius Vogel
launched his
Great Public Works
policy of immigration and public works schemes of the 1870s, borrowing the massive sum of 10 million pounds, to develop significant infrastructure of roads, railways, and communications, all administered by the central government. This diminished the power of the provinces greatly. The provinces were finally abolished by the Abolition of Provinces Act 1875,
[11]
during the
Premiership
of
Harry Atkinson
. For the purposes of the Act, the provinces formally ceased to exist on 1 January 1877.
[17]
Replacement
[
edit
]
Upon the abolition of the provinces, they took the legal status of provincial districts, which had no administrative functions.
[18]
Local government was vested in elected borough and county councils. The Counties Bill of 1876 created
63 counties
out of the old provinces. The former boundaries of the provinces served as administrative areas for the education boards set up under the Education Act of 1877 and for the offices of several Government Departments, including the
Department of Lands and Survey
.
Upon abolition, various responsibilities were delegated to boards. For example, the
Education Act 1877
created the
Education Boards
for Auckland, Hamilton, Hawkes Bay, Taranaki, Wanganui, Wellington, Nelson, Westland, Southland, Canterbury and Otago districts. In 1989 the counties were replaced by enlarged
district councils
.
The Department of Lands and Survey split the country into the
Land Districts
of Auckland (North), Auckland (South), Hawkes Bay, Gisborne, Taranaki, Wellington, Canterbury, Marlborough, Nelson, Westland, Otago and Southland.
The
New Zealand Rugby Union
was formed in 1892 with foundation members principally being provinces:
Auckland
†,
Hawke's Bay
†,
Taranaki
†,
Manawatu
,
Wanganui
,
Wairarapa
,
Wellington
†,
Nelson
†,
Marlborough
† and
South Canterbury
. At the time, three major South Island Provincial Unions ?
Canterbury
†,
Otago
† and
Southland
† ? resisted the central authority of the NZRU.
Modern uses of the old names
[
edit
]
Some current
Provincial Anniversary Days
are still
public holidays in New Zealand
: Auckland†, Taranaki†, Hawkes' Bay†, Wellington†, Marlborough†, Nelson†, Canterbury†, Canterbury (South), Westland†, Otago†, Southland† and Chatham Islands.
† indicates it reflects an original province.
The provincial districts had
different
boundaries from the present day
regions
, for example, the Manawat?-Whanganui region is largely in the Wellington provincial district. The districts are represented by teams in
rugby union
's
ITM Cup
and
Heartland Championship
, both of which replaced the
National Provincial Championship
in 2006, although the term "provincial" is still used in connection with rugby for the present 29 unions whether founded in the 1880s (e.g. Otago) or 2006 (Tasman).
[19]
Some of the names persist in other contexts as well, such as health administration districts:
Northland
,
Waitemata
,
Auckland
†,
Counties Manukau
,
Waikato
,
Bay of Plenty
,
Lakes (Rotorua/Taupo)
,
Hawke's Bay
†,
MidCentral (Manawatu)
,
Tairawhiti (Gisborne)
,
Taranaki
,
Whanganui
,
Wairarapa
,
Hutt Valley
,
Capital and Coast (Wellington)
†,
Nelson (Marlborough)
†,
West Coast
†,
Canterbury
†,
South Canterbury
and
Southern (Otago)
†.
Some of the names of former provinces and current regions have a tendency to be preceded by "the". Thus, for example, we have
Auckland
,
Canterbury
,
Hawke's Bay
,
Marlborough
and
Wellington
, but
the Waikato
,
the Manawatu
,
the Bay of Plenty
, and
the West Coast
.
The current
regions of New Zealand
and most of their councils came about in 1989:
Northland
,
Auckland
†,
Waikato
,
Bay of Plenty
,
Gisborne
,
Hawke's Bay
†,
Taranaki
†,
Manawatu-Whanganui
,
Wellington
†,
Tasman
,
Nelson
†,
Marlborough
†,
West Coast
†,
Canterbury
†,
Otago
† and
Southland
†.
Another usage of words associated with the former provinces often refers to anything rural, e.g. one may refer to a town as
provincial
rather than rural or use the phrase 'out in the provinces,' in order to refer to the countryside. These terms can often be heard on national television networks, particularly on weather broadcasts.
References
[
edit
]
† indicates an old province.
Citations
[
edit
]
- ^
"Royal Charter of 1840"
.
New Zealand Legal Information Institute
. 18 November 1840
. Retrieved
25 September
2020
.
- ^
Hare, Mclintock (1966).
"An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand ? New Leinster, New Munster, and New Ulster"
. Retrieved
25 September
2020
.
- ^
"Provincial arms and seals"
. Retrieved
12 October
2020
.
- ^
"New Zealand Spectator and Cook's Strait Guardian"
. Vol. IX, no. 791. 2 March 1853. p. 3
. Retrieved
12 October
2020
.
- ^
McLintock, A.H.
, ed. (1966).
"Provinces and provincial districts: Foundation of system"
.
An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
. Retrieved
13 June
2018
.
- ^
Wilson, John (1991).
Canterbury Provincial Council Buildings
. Christchurch:
Canterbury Regional Council
.
ISBN
1-86937-135-6
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
"New Zealand's Nine Provinces (1853?76)"
(PDF)
. Friends of the Hocken Collections. 21 March 2000. Archived from
the original
(PDF)
on 5 February 2011
. Retrieved
9 May
2007
.
- ^
a
b
"A Bill to provide for the Establishment of new Provinces in New Zealand"
.
Hawke's Bay Herald
. Vol. 1, no. 49. 28 August 1858. p. 2
. Retrieved
10 July
2010
.
- ^
Lloyd Esler (4 November 2010). "About the South".
The Southland Times
. p. 9.
- ^
Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives
, 1876, p. B-2, p. 12
- ^
"New Zealand Provinces 1848?77"
.
Rulers.org
. Retrieved
30 November
2020
.
- ^
McLintock, A.H.
, ed. (1966).
"Provincial districts"
.
An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand
. Retrieved
8 February
2016
.
- ^
"Provincial Unions"
. Archived from
the original
on 22 April 2017
. Retrieved
9 May
2017
.
Bibliography
[
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]
Further reading
[
edit
]
External links
[
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]
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