Public gathering outside the Ross Borough Council Chambers

The Ross Borough was the borough council covering the town of

Ross, New Zealand Ross is a small town located in the Westland District on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island, south-west of Hokitika and north-east of Hari Hari by road. History Ross was established in the 1860s, during the West Coast Gold Rush ...

and the nearby locality Donoghues, between 1878 and 1972, when Ross Borough was merged back into

Westland County Westland County, also known as County of Westland, was a local government area on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It existed from 1868 to 1873, and then from 1876 until 1989. In its first incarnation, it constituted the government f ...

History

The area was first occupied by white settlers in 1865 after the discovery of gold in the Tōtara River and in

Jones Creek Jones Creek is a village in Brazoria County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,020 at the 2010 census. It is the first location in Texas where Stephen F. Austin settled. History The Father of Texas, Stephen F. Austin, first settled in J ...

. Ross was initially administered 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 ...

based in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

, and then by the successor government agency

from 1868 to 1873, which was succeeded by

Westland Province The Westland Province was a province of New Zealand from 1873 until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. The capital was Hokitika. Area and history The area was part of Canterbury Province when the provinces were created in 1853. By ...

from 1873 to 1876. With the abolition of the provincial government system, the area came under the control of Westland County; equal in name to the organisation from 1873 but with the functions of a

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Ireland The county councils created under British rule in 1899 continue to exist in Irel ...

as opposed to provincial government. In September 1877, some residents of Ross met "to take into consideration the advisability of forming Ross into a municipality"; at the time the area was part of Westland County. The first step was to form a committee that would decide on the boundaries of such a borough. The meeting also passed a unanimous decision to petition the governor—

George Phipps, 2nd Marquess of Normanby George Augustus Constantine Phipps, 2nd Marquess of Normanby (23 July 1819 – 3 April 1890), styled Viscount Normanby between 1831 and 1838 and Earl of Mulgrave between 1838 and 1863, was a British Liberal politician and colonial governor of Nov ...

—to declare Ross a municipality and the required number of signatures was collected. On 31 December 1877, John Benjamin Lopas (acting on behalf of the committee) received a telegram from the government that the borough had been approved and that he had been appointed returning officer and clerk. Three candidates stood for election as mayor of Ross, and

Camille Malfroy Jean Michel Camille Malfroy (23 March 1839 – 6 January 1897) was a New Zealand engineer and local politician. He was born in Macornay, France on 23 March 1839. Malfroy arrived in New Zealand via the Victorian goldfields in the 1860s. Natural ...

beat Joseph Grimmond with 79 votes to 75, with William Lockington coming a distant third. The borough council took over the responsibilities of the Totara Road Board. The borough covered an area of . In 1972, the borough was merged back into Westland County.

List of mayors

Between 1878 and 1982, Ross had 16 mayors. The following is a complete list:

References

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the

public domain The public domain (PD) consists of all the creative work to which no exclusive intellectual property rights apply. Those rights may have expired, been forfeited, expressly waived, or may be inapplicable. Because those rights have expired, ...

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