1884 in New Zealand

Incumbents

Regal and viceregal

• Head of State – Queen Victoria
• Governor – Lieutenant-General Sir William Jervois.

  Government and law

• Speaker of the House – Maurice O'Rorke.
• Premier – Harry Atkinson loses the Premiership to Robert Stout on 16 August, regains it on 28 August and loses it again to Stout on 3 September.
• Minister of Finance – Harry Atkinson is replaced on 16 August by Julius Vogel. He is relieved of the position on 28 August and resumes it again on 3 September.
• Chief Justice – Hon Sir James Prendergast

  Main centre leaders

• Mayor of Auckland – William Waddel
• Mayor of Christchurch – George Ruddenklau followed by Charles Hulbert
• Mayor of Dunedin – William Parker Street followed by Arthur Scoular
• Mayor of Wellington – George Fisher

  Events

Sport

Cricket

• 1883–84 New Zealand cricket season
• 1884–85 New Zealand cricket season

  Golf

Horse racing

• New Zealand Cup winner: Vanguard
• New Zealand Derby winner: Black Rose
• Auckland Cup winner: The Poet
• Wellington Cup winner: The Poet

  Rugby union

• 1884 New Zealand rugby union tour of New South Wales: A New Zealand team makes an overseas tour for the first time. The team makes a return visit to the Southern Rugby Union in New South Wales and wins all eight matches with 167 points for and 17 against.

Shooting

Births

• 26 February : Frederick Doidge, politician.
• 10 March: Adam Adamson, mayor of Invercargill
• 16 November: Fred Jones, politician.

  Deaths

• 28 February: Sir Robert Douglas, 3rd Baronet, soldier and politician
• 1 March: William Jarvis Willis, member of the House of Representatives
• 27 April: Henry Tancred, politician
• 1 June: Robert Heaton Rhodes, member of the House of Representatives
• 27 June: Benjamin Tonks, member of the House of Representatives and Mayor of Auckland City
• 13 July: Francis Hull, member of the House of Representatives
• 23 July: William Adams, member of the House of Representatives and provincial superintendent
• 30 August: William Wood, member of the House of Representatives and provincial superintendent
• 7 September: Alfred Nesbit Brown, missionary
• 28 October: Thomas Luther Shepherd, member of the House of Representatives
• 1 December: William Swainson, first Speaker of the New Zealand Legislative Council
• 11 September: Walter Brodie, member of the House of Representatives
• 20 December: John George Miles, member of the House of Representatives