Provinces of New Zealand

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Map of New Zealand showing the borders of the Provinces of New Zealand
For the current top-level subdivision of New Zealand, see Regions of New Zealand.

Provinces in New Zealand were used from 1841 until the Abolition of the Provinces Act came into force on November 1, 1876.

Following abolition, the provinces became known as provincial districts. Their only visible function today is their use to determine, with the exception of the Chatham Islands, Northland, and South Canterbury, the geographical boundaries for anniversary day public holidays.

Contents

[edit] 1841 to 1853

When New Zealand became a separate Colony from New South Wales in 1841, the Royal Charter established three provinces:

In 1846 the British Parliament passed the first New Zealand Constitution Act, which was almost totally suspended on the advice of Governor George Grey. The only operative provisions related to the reform of the provinces. The reformed provinces were:

In addition, the provinces were separated from the central government for the first time.

[edit] 1853 to 1876

[edit] Creation

The provinces were formed by the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852. This act established the first six provinces of Auckland, New Plymouth, Wellington, Nelson, Canterbury and Otago. Each province had its own legislature known as a Provincial Council that elected its own Speaker and Superintendent.

Elections were open to males 21 years or older who owned freehold property worth £50 a year. Elections were to be held every four years. An Amendment to the Constitution Act in 1856 provided for the appointment of a Deputy Superintendent.

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.

Province Independent county Formed Renamed Dissolution
Date Broke from Date New name Date Reason
Auckland   1853       1 November 1876 Provinces abolished
New Plymouth   1853   1 January 1859 Taranaki 1 November 1876 Provinces abolished
Hawke's Bay   1 November 1858 Wellington     1 November 1876 Provinces abolished
Wellington   1853       1 November 1876 Provinces abolished
Nelson   1853       1 November 1876 Provinces abolished
Marlborough   1 November 1859 Nelson     1 November 1876 Provinces abolished
Westland 1 January 1868 1 December 1873 Canterbury     1 November 1876 Provinces abolished
Canterbury   1853       1 November 1876 Provinces abolished
Otago   1853       1 November 1876 Provinces abolished
Southland   25 March 1861 Otago     5 October 1870 Reunited with Otago

[edit] Abolition

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 famous 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 central government. This diminished the power of the provinces greatly. The provinces were finally abolished by the Abolition of Provinces Act 1876, during the Premiership of Harry Atkinson. For the purposes of the Act, the provinces formally ceased to exist on 1 January 1877.

[edit] Replacement

Following the abolition of the Provinces, 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 Deparment of Lands and Survey.

[edit] Modern uses of the old names

It is important to note that the provincial districts have different boundaries from the present day regions, for example, the Manawatu-Wanganui region is largely in the Wellington provincial district. They are also not to be confused with the use of the term in rugby's Air New Zealand Cup and Heartland Championship (both of which replaced the National Provincial Championship).

Some of the names persist in other contexts as well, such as health administration districts.

Some of the names of former provinces and current regions have a tendency to be preceded by "the", as, for example, in this extract from a recent Court of Appeal judgment: "At trial, there was evidence of a sticker ostensibly from the Manawatu on the courier bag."

[edit] Sources and external links

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