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1st New Zealand Parliament
The 1st New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand. It opened on 24 May 1854, following New Zealand's first general election (held the previous year). It was dissolved on 15 September 1855 in preparation for that year's election. 37 Members of the House of Representatives (MHRs) represented 24 electorates. Parliamentary sessions The Parliament sat for three sessions: New Zealand had not yet obtained responsible government (that is, the power to manage its own affairs), and so the 1st Parliament did not hold any significant power. The 1st Parliament was held before the creation of either political parties or the office of Premier. There were, however, appointments made to the Executive Council (the formal institution upon which Cabinet is based). From 14 June 1854 to 2 August 1854, there was a four-person cabinet, New Zealand's first ministry, led by James FitzGerald, with Henry Sewell, Frederick Weld, and Thomas Bartley (a fifth member, Dillon ...
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New Zealand Parliament
The New Zealand Parliament ( mi, Pāremata Aotearoa) is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the King of New Zealand ( King-in-Parliament) and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by his governor-general. Before 1951, there was an upper chamber, the New Zealand Legislative Council. The New Zealand Parliament was established in 1854 and is one of the oldest continuously functioning legislatures in the world. It has met in Wellington, the capital of New Zealand, since 1865. The House of Representatives normally consists of 120 members of Parliament (MPs), though sometimes more due to overhang seats. There are 72 MPs elected directly in electorates while the remainder of seats are assigned to list MPs based on each party's share of the total party vote. Māori were represented in Parliament from 1867, and in 1893 women gained the vote. Although elections can be called early, each three years Parliament is dissolved and ...
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Responsible Government
Responsible government is a conception of a system of government that embodies the principle of parliamentary accountability, the foundation of the Westminster system of parliamentary democracy. Governments (the equivalent of the executive branch) in Westminster democracies are responsible to parliament rather than to the monarch, or, in a colonial context, to the imperial government, and in a republican context, to the president, either in full or in part. If the parliament is bicameral, then the government is responsible first to the parliament's lower house, which is more representative than the upper house, as it usually has more members and they are always directly elected. Responsible government of parliamentary accountability manifests itself in several ways. Ministers account to Parliament for their decisions and for the performance of their departments. This requirement to make announcements and to answer questions in Parliament means that ministers must have the priv ...
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1854 Sewell Mackay Incident
Events January–March * January 4 – The McDonald Islands are discovered by Captain William McDonald aboard the ''Samarang''. * January 6 – The fictional detective Sherlock Holmes is perhaps born. * January 9 – The Teutonia Männerchor in Pittsburgh, U.S.A. is founded to promote German culture. * January 20 – The North Carolina General Assembly in the United States charters the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad, to run from Goldsboro through New Bern, to the newly created seaport of Morehead City, near Beaufort. * January 21 – The iron clipper runs aground off the east coast of Ireland, on her maiden voyage out of Liverpool, bound for Australia, with the loss of at least 300 out of 650 on board. * February 11 – Major streets are lit by coal gas for the first time by the San Francisco Gas Company; 86 such lamps are turned on this evening in San Francisco, California. * February 13 – Mexican troops force William Walker and his ...
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Jerningham Wakefield
Edward Jerningham Wakefield (25 June 1820 – 3 March 1879), known as Jerningham Wakefield, was the only son of Edward Gibbon Wakefield. As such, he was closely associated with his father's interest in colonisation. He worked for the New Zealand Company and later was a member of the Canterbury Association. He was active as a politician in New Zealand, both at national and provincial level, but became an alcoholic and died penniless in an old people's home. Early life Wakefield was born in London in 1820. His parents were Edward Gibbon Wakefield and Eliza Anne Frances Pattle, but his mother died within days of his birth. Together with his sister Nina, he was mostly brought up by Catherine Torlesse, his father's sister and mother of Charles Torlesse. Wakefield was known by his middle name and educated at Bruce Castle School and King's College London. Later life In 1839 he accompanied his uncle, Colonel William Wakefield to New Zealand on the New Zealand Company ship ''Tory''. ...
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William Travers (New Zealand Politician)
William Thomas Locke Travers (January 1819 – 23 April 1903) was a New Zealand lawyer, politician, explorer, and naturalist. Early life Travers was born near Newcastle West, County Limerick, Ireland, either on 9 or 19 January 1819. His father chose to retire to France, and Travers was consequently brought up there. He was educated in Saint-Malo, a town in Brittany. In 1835, he joined the British military, and was part of the British Auxiliary Legion that fought in Spain's First Carlist War. After his military service ended, Travers became a lawyer. In 1849, he and his family moved to Nelson, New Zealand, where he continued to practice law. Later, he also lived in Christchurch and Wellington. He purchased Englefield Lodge in Christchurch in 1866 and sold the property in 1872 to Edward Stevens. Political career Travers' political career covered both national and provincial politics. He was a member of the 1st New Zealand Parliament, representing first the Town of Ne ...
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James Macandrew
James Macandrew (1819(?) – 25 February 1887) was a New Zealand ship-owner and politician. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1853 to 1887 and as the last Superintendent of Otago Province. Early life Macandrew was born in Scotland, probably in Aberdeen, where he was baptised on 18 May 1819. He became active in the Free Church of Scotland, and from there, in the proposed colonisation of Otago (which was being advocated by the Lay Association of the Free Church of Scotland, later the Otago Association). In partnership with his brother-in-law William Reynolds, Macandrew bought a schooner, loaded it with cargo, and set sail for Otago with his family. He arrived in January 1851. Still working in partnership with his brother-in-law, Macandrew immediately became a major figure in the business community of Dunedin. Reynolds, his brother-in-law, began to build up a shipping business, while Macandrew himself established a trading firm in the city. The partners later established ...
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Dillon Bell
Sir Francis Dillon Bell (8 October 1822 – 15 July 1898) was a New Zealand politician of the late 19th century. He served as New Zealand's third Minister of Finance (New Zealand), Minister of Finance (the first parliamentary finance minister), and later as its third Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives, Speaker of the House. The town of Bell Block, New Zealand, Bell Block near New Plymouth – on land Bell bought from the Puketapu iwi in 1849 – is named after him, as is Bell Street, Whanganui. Bell's son, Francis Bell (New Zealand politician), Francis Henry Dillon Bell, became the first New Zealand born Prime Minister of New Zealand, Prime Minister in 1925. Early life Bell is believed to have been born in Bordeaux, France, where his father, Edward Bell, was the British Consul (representative), consul. He grew up speaking both English and French fluently. When his family ran into financial problems, his father's cousin, Edward Gibbon Wakefield, managed to secure ...
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Thomas Bartley (politician)
Thomas Houghton Bartley JP (1798 – 25 December 1878) was a New Zealand politician. Bartley was from Liverpool. Like his brother William, he was a lawyer. In 1838, both of them were in Adelaide. William Bartley stayed in that city and became attorney for the South Australian Company, but Thomas Bartley went to New Zealand in 1839 and settled in the Bay of Islands. In 1841, he moved to Auckland, where he worked as a solicitor. He represented the City of Auckland electorate on the first and second council of the Auckland Province (20 July 1853 – 15 July 1854; 26 October 1855 – 18 August 1857). He was the first Deputy-Superintendent of Auckland Province (18 September 1856 – 11 November 1856) and the first Speaker of the Province (1853–1857). As Speaker, he was succeeded by William Powditch. Bartley served in the First New Zealand Parliament, representing the City of Auckland electorate. He was elected on 11 August 1853 and resigned on 11 July 1854. He was a member o ...
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Frederick Weld
Sir Frederick Aloysius Weld (9 May 1823 – 20 July 1891), was a New Zealand politician and a governor of various British colonies. He was the sixth premier of New Zealand, and later served as Governor of Western Australia, Governor of Tasmania, and Governor of the Straits Settlements. Early life Weld was born near Bridport, Dorset, England, on 9 May 1823. His mother, Christina Maria Clifford, was the daughter of Baron Clifford of Chudleigh. Both of his parents were from old recusant Catholic families. His father, Humphrey Weld of Chideock, was a member of the Weld family. Humphrey's father Thomas Weld (of Lulworth) donated the land and endowed the Jesuit college at Stonyhurst. Weld's upbringing was strongly grounded in the Catholic faith. His early years were spent with his parents in France. Later, he received a good education, studying at Stonyhurst before attending a predecessor of the University of Fribourg in Switzerland, where he studied philosophy, chemistry, language ...
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Henry Sewell
Henry Sewell (7 September 1807 – 14 May 1879) was a prominent 19th-century New Zealand politician. He was a notable campaigner for New Zealand self-government, and is generally regarded as having been the country's first premier (an office that would later be titled "Prime Minister"), having led the Sewell Ministry in 1856. He later served as Colonial Treasurer (1856–59), as Attorney-General (1861–62), and twice as Minister of Justice (1864–65, 1869–72). Early life Sewell was the fourth son of Thomas Sewell, a solicitor, and his wife Jane . He was born on 7 September 1807 in the town of Newport, on England's Isle of Wight. He was educated at Hyde Abbey School near Winchester. He qualified as a solicitor, and joined his father's law firm in 1826. In 1840, however, Sewell's father lost a staggering sum of money when a bank failed, and died shortly afterwards, leaving the family with a great deal of debt. This put considerable strain on Sewell. In 1844, Sewell also suff ...
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List Of New Zealand Ministries
The New Zealand Government exercises executive power in New Zealand. This article lists spans of government under a party or coalition, as well as Ministry (collective executive), ministries under a prime minister. There have been three distinctly different periods of government in New Zealand—firstly, the period before responsible government; second, from 1856 to 1890, the period of responsible government; and the third period started with the formation of List of political parties in New Zealand, political parties in 1891. Guide to list This article lists the successive governments of New Zealand since 1856. The first government which formed along political lines did not appear until 1891, when John Ballance formed the New Zealand Liberal Party, Liberal Party and the Liberal Government of New Zealand, Liberal Government. A government is named (by political commentators, as well as self-referentially) for the largest party that leads it – though compare the United–Reform ...
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Cabinet Of New Zealand
The Cabinet of New Zealand ( mi, Te Rūnanga o te Kāwanatanga o AotearoaTranslated as: "The Rūnanga (literally 'Council') of the Government of New Zealand") is the New Zealand Government's body of senior ministers, accountable to the New Zealand Parliament. Cabinet meetings, chaired by the prime minister, occur once a week; in them, vital issues are discussed and government policy is formulated. Cabinet is also composed of a number of committees focused on specific areas of governance and policy. Though not established by any statute, Cabinet has significant power in the New Zealand political system and nearly all bills proposed by Cabinet in Parliament are enacted. The New Zealand Cabinet follows the traditions of the British cabinet system. Members of Cabinet are collectively responsible to Parliament for its actions and policies. Cabinet discussions are confidential and are not disclosed to the public apart from the announcement of decisions. All ministers in Cabinet al ...
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