Canterbury Province


The Canterbury Province was a province of New Zealand from 1853 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. Its capital was Christchurch.

History

Canterbury Province was founded in December 1850 by the Canterbury Association of influential Englishmen associated with the Church of England. The Charlotte Jane and the Randolph—the first two of the First Four Ships—arrived in the area on 16 December 1850, later celebrated as the province's initial [|Anniversary Day].
In 1852, the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the New Zealand Constitution Act 1852, which amongst other things established provincial councils. The Constitution contained specific provisions for the Canterbury Association; the first being that the new General Assembly could not amend the legislation establishing the Canterbury Association, the second being that the Canterbury Association could hand its powers to a newly-established provincial government.
Elections were held in 1853 for Superintendent and, later that year, for the 12-member council. These elections predated any elected national assembly. The franchise was extended to men over the age of 21 who owned property in the province. As a result, affairs of the Canterbury Association were wound up in 1855 and outstanding settlement lands handed over to the Canterbury Province. The first meeting place was the former office of the Guardian and Advertiser, Canterbury's second newspaper, on Chester Street near the Avon River. In 1866, the council moved to Guise Brittan's house, which later became part of the Clarendon Hotel. One session in 1858 was held in the town hall on what is now High Street; the town hall was in the section north of Lichfield Street. On 28 September 1859, the council first met in what became known as the Timber Chamber of the Canterbury Provincial Council Buildings. The Stone Chamber of the Provincial Council Buildings was used from November 1865.
Following the West Coast Gold Rush, the portion of the province west of the Southern Alps was split off as Westland in 1867. Upon the establishment of the University of New Zealand in 1870, its Christchurch campus housed the system's headquarters.

Geography

On the east coast the province was bounded by the Hurunui River in the north and the Waitaki River in the south. The boundary on the west coast was largely undefined before the West Coast became its own province.
In 1868 the West Coast was separated from the Province with the formation of the County of Westland on the West Coast with the boundary line defined as the crest of the Southern Alps. In 1873 the County formed its own Province, the short-lived Westland Province.
In the south the course of the Waitaki River was not known and disputes arose with the Province of Otago over pastoral leases in the inland high country.
In the 1860s South Canterbury made two bids to become separate province but this was rejected by the national government. Instead in 1867 the General Assembly created the Timaru and Gladstone Board of Works which received a proportion of the Canterbury provincial land revenues and was authorised to maintain and build the Timaru harbour and local roads and bridges.
When the province was abolished, the area was distributed across eight counties.

Railways

The Ferrymead Railway was the first railway to be opened and closed in New Zealand. It was made obsolete by the opening of a new line through a tunnel giving Christchurch access to the better port of Lyttelton. The mainlines of the Canterbury Provincial Railways were Irish gauge with some branch lines in Colonial gauge. These lines were all eventually absorbed into the New Zealand Railways Department in 1876.

Superintendents

was the returning officer for the first election of a Superintendent. The nomination meeting was held at the Christchurch Land Office, and there were three polling stations: in Christchurch at the Resident Magistrate's Court, in Lyttelton at the Resident Magistrate's Court, and in Akaroa.
Canterbury had four Superintendents:
NofromtoSuperintendent
120 Jul 1853Oct 1857James FitzGerald
224 Oct 1857Feb 1863William Sefton Moorhouse
3Mar 1863May 1866Samuel Bealey
30 May 1866May 1868William Sefton Moorhouse
422 May 18681 Jan 1877William Rolleston

Executive Council

The Executive Council is comparable to a cabinet. The following 26 Executive Councils existed:
NoHeadfromtoother members
1Henry Tancred27 September 185313 October 1854William John Warburton Hamilton, Charles Simeon, Harry Godfrey Gouland
2John Hall23 October 185412 May 1855Samuel Bealey, Harry Godfrey Gouland, Henry Barnes Gresson
3Joseph Brittan12 May 185527 July 1855Henry Barnes Gresson, Richard Packer
4Henry Tancred27 July 185512 February 1857Joseph Brittan, Henry Barnes Gresson, William John Warburton Hamilton
5Richard Packer12 February 185727 July 1857Henry Barnes Gresson, William John Warburton Hamilton, Thomas Cass, Richard James Strachan Harman
6Charles Bowen27 July 18573 October 1857Thomas Cass, Henry Barnes Gresson, Richard James Strachan Harman, Richard Packer
7Thomas Cass3 October 18578 December 1857Henry Barnes Gresson, Richard James Strachan Harman, Richard Packer
8Henry Tancred8 December 185710 February 1858Thomas Cass, Henry Barnes Gresson, Richard James Strachan Harman, John Ollivier
9Thomas Cass10 February 18588 November 1859Thomas Smith Duncan, John Ollivier, Charles Bowen
10Richard James Strachan Harman8 November 185915 November 1859Charles Joseph Bridge, George Arthur Emilius Ross, Augustus White, Charles William Wyatt
11John Ollivier21 November 185921 December 1859Thomas Cass, Thomas Smith Duncan, George Arthur Emilius Ross
12Charles Blakiston29 December 18591 February 1861Thomas Cass, Thomas Smith Duncan, Robert Wilkin, Henry Arthur Scott
13Robert Wilkin1 February 1861November 1863Thomas Smith Duncan, Thomas William Maude, Joshua Williams, Hugh Murray-Aynsley, William Sefton Moorhouse, Thomas Cass
14Thomas Cass10 November 18634 December 1863Thomas William Maude, William Sefton Moorhouse, Hugh Murray-Aynsley, Joshua Williams
15Henry Tancred4 December 18638 June 1866Edward French Buttemer Harston, William Rolleston, George Arthur Emilius Ross, Edward Cephas John Stevens, William Travers, John Hall, William Patten Cowlishaw, Edward Jollie, Francis Edward Stewart
16Henry Tancred8 June 186617 October 1866Thomas Cass, Francis James Garrick, Francis Edward Stewart
17Francis Edward Stewart17 October 186627 November 1866Thomas Cass, Francis James Garrick, Robert Wilkin, George Buckley, Thomas William Maude
18Edward Jollie29 November 186614 December 1866Thomas Cass, William Montgomery, Joshua Williams, Robert Wilkin
19Francis Edward Stewart14 December 18663 March 1868Joseph Beswick, Thomas Smith Duncan, Thomas William Maude, Robert Wilkin, Joshua Williams, George Hart, James Bonar
20Edward Jollie3 March 18684 June 1869William Montgomery, Arthur Ormsby, Henry Wynn-Williams, George Leslie Lee, Andrew Duncan
21Arthur Charles Knight4 June 18695 June 1869John Evans Brown, John Thomas Peacock, Henry Wynn-Williams
22Edward Jollie5 June 186926 October 1870Alfred Hornbrook, Robert Heaton Rhodes, Henry Wynn-Williams
23John Hall26 October 18707 August 1871John Evans Brown, Alfred Cox, William Browning Tosswill, Walter Kennaway
24Walter Kennaway7 August 18712 January 1874George Buckley, William Patten Cowlishaw, Alfred Cox, Arthur Charles Knight, Richard Westenra, Joseph Beswick, Andrew Duncan
25William Montgomery2 January 187415 April 1875Edward Jollie, Thomas Joynt, Thomas William Maude
26John Cracroft Wilson15 April 187528 September 1876George Buckley, William Miles Maskell, John Thomas Peacock, Henry Wynn-Williams, Arthur Charles Knight, Henry Richard Webb

Anniversary Day

Each New Zealand province celebrates an anniversary day. Canterbury Province's was originally 16 December, the day of the 1850 arrival of the Charlotte Jane and the Randolph. Since 1862, an A&P show has been held annually. Its Friday Show Day was set for many years on the People's Day and, sometime in the late 1950s, the Christchurch City Council moved the province's Anniversary Day to coincide with the show and encourage greater crowds. The holiday is presently defined as the "second Friday after the first Tuesday in November", ensuring that it will follow the Melbourne Cup Racing Carnival. This adjustment is observed in northern and middle Canterbury; southern Canterbury instead observes its Anniversary Day on Dominion Day.

Legislation