The Hokitika Borough was the borough council covering the urban part of the town of

Hokitika Hokitika is a town in the West Coast region of New Zealand's South Island, south of Greymouth, and close to the mouth of the Hokitika River. It is the seat and largest town in the Westland District. The town's estimated population is as of . ...

, New Zealand between 1867 and 1989, when Hokitika Borough and Westland County merged to form

Westland District Westland District is a Districts of New Zealand, territorial authority district on the West Coast, New Zealand, West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It is administered by the Westland District Council. The district's population is History ...

History

During the time of the

West Coast Gold Rush The West Coast Gold Rush, on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island, lasted from 1864 to 1867. Description The gold rush populated the area, which up until then had been visited by few Europeans. Gold was found near the Taramakau River in ...

, Hokitika became the capital for the West Coast of the

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

. A Town Improvement Committee was established in 1865. This committee was succeeded by a new Municipal Corporation, for which a nomination meeting was held on 25 September 1866, where there was great confusion about the correct electoral procedure. As more nominations were received than were positions available, an election was held on 3 October. Many members of the Town Improvement Committee did not make the election, and the councillors elected were W. Hungerford, James Bonar, Charles Williams, James R. Anderson, R. Ecclesfield, A. Cumming, William Shaw, F. L. Clarke, and J. Fitzsimmons. The councillors first met on 9 October 1866 and elected James Bonar as their first chairman. The Hokitika Borough was originally formed under the Hokitika Municipal Corporation Ordinance, 1866, an act passed by the

Canterbury Provincial Council 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 was founded in December 1850 by the Canterbury Association of influential Eng ...

. The ordinance was passed on 27 December 1866, and assented by the

Superintendent Superintendent may refer to: *Superintendent (police), Superintendent of Police (SP), or Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), a police rank *Prison warden or Superintendent, a prison administrator *Superintendent (ecclesiastical), a church exec ...

William Sefton Moorhouse William Sefton Moorhouse ( 1825 – 15 September 1881) was a British-born New Zealand politician. He was the second Superintendent of Canterbury Province. Early life Moorhouse was born in Yorkshire, England, and baptised on 18 December 1825; th ...

, on 29 December 1866. One of the purposes of that ordinance was to declare the election of the first nine councillors as valid. The Municipal Corporations Act, 1867 was passed by the

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 h ...

, and this allowed for towns to be constituted a borough, and Hokitika Borough was incorporated on 24 August 1868. The area of the borough was .

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work A creative work is a manifestation of creative effort including fine artwork (sculpture, paintings, drawing, sketching, performance art), dance, writing (literature), filmmaking, ...

: {{coord, 42, 42, 56, S, 170, 58, 5, E, display=title History of the West Coast, New Zealand

Borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

Boroughs of New Zealand