The province of Wellington and the abolition of the provincial form of government in New Zealand, 1874-6

Abstract

The 1852 New Zealand Constitution Act provided for a system of local government in the form of provinces. These provinces were almost states within a federal union, but gradually during the years their powers were whittled away until in 1876 they disappeared altogether. This thesis was intended to fill a serious gap in recorded New Zealand history, for although the Provincial form of government was in existence for twenty-four years its demise and the reasons therefore are usually dismissed in the average New Zealand history in little more than a paragraph. Only three works have dealt with the subject in any detail. T.G. Wilson in his Auckland thesis on The Rise of the Liberal Party in New Zealand, 1877-90 covers Provincial Abolition as an introduction to his main theme and also very much from the Auckland point of view. Professor Morrell in his history of The Provincial System of Government in New Zealand naturally concludes with Abolition but is concerned primarily with the Otago viewpoint as is McLintock in his History of Otago. The object of this thesis was to cover the subject of Abolition itself with particular reference to Wellington Province, where written Provincial history is sadly lacking. While realizing that the struggle for Abolition of the Provinces commenced soon after 1852 in reality, the subject is so broad that I have been forced to limit this work to the final Parliamentary battle, 1874-6 and the opinions surrounding that from the point of view of Wellington Province. Thus to a large extent this work is based on the collected opinions of the Wellington members of the House of Representatives and of the Wellington Provincial press. Legislative and press opinion appear in considerable detail, but I consider this an essential part of the story to be told. I have endeavoured to trace the beginnings of the last Parliamentary campaign and touched upon the deeper interests lying behind it. I am however conscious of the great amount of work that still needs to be done on this subject.