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The Province of Canterbury was formed in 1853 from the part of New Munster and covered both the east and west coasts of the South Island of New Zealand. 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.
The capital of the Province of Canterbury was Christchurch and it was there the Provincial Council sat. Elections were held in 1853 for Superintendent and, later, for the 12 member council. These elections pre-dated any elected national assembly. The franchise was extended to men over the age of 21 who owned property in the province. The council first sat in temporary facilities but later the Canterbury Provincial Council Buildings were completed in 1859 to house the council.
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 the south the course of the Waitaki River was not known and disputes arose with the Province of Otago over pastural leases in the inland high country. In 1956 the national government defined the boundary as the Ohau River to Lake Ohau and then a straight line to the summit of Mount Aspiring
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.
Canterbury New Zealand - Superintendents
- 20 Jul 1853 - Oct 1857 James Edward Fitzgerald (b. 1818 - d. 1896)
- 24 Oct 1857 - Feb 1863 William Sefton Moorhouse (1st time) (b. 1825 - d. 1881)
- Mar 1863 - May 1866 Samuel Bealey (b. 1821 - d. 1909)
- 30 May 1866 - May 1868 William Sefton Moorhouse (2nd time) (s.a.)
- 22 May 1868 - 1 Jan 1877 William Rolleston (b. 1831 - d. 1903)
Sources:
- [rulers.org]
- An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand, edited by A. H. McLintock, 1966
- Christchurch City Council
Other related archives1848, Benjamin Mountfort, Cantabria, Canterbury Association, Canterbury Plains, Christchurch, Church of England, Conway River, Edward Gibbon Wakefield, General Assembly, Gothic Revival, John Robert Godley, Lake Ohau, Mount Aspiring, New Munster,
 Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The Province of Canterbury", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page |
