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In 1907 it became the Dominion of New Zealand, a symbolic recognition of the colony’s maturity. While New Zealand fought with Britain in the First World War, it was able to make its own decisions about how to contribute to the war effort. In 1920 New Zealand became a founding member of the League of Nations, a forerunner of the United Nations.
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Crown colony; New Zealand Constitution Act 1852; Responsible...
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Self-government and independence › Page ; Story:...
- Māori
In 1840, when the Treaty of Waitangi was signed, New Zealand...
- Triumphal Poster
This poster celebrates the Allied victory in the First World...
- Waitara Camp
A dispute with Māori over the sale of land at Waitara in...
- Queen Opens Parliament
During the Queen Elizabeth's visit to New Zealand in 1953/54...
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- Governor Grey’s Scheme
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Following the postponement of the 1846 self-government charter, Governor Grey bombarded the British Colonial Office with proposals for a new scheme he thought was appropriate to New Zealand’s situation. He sought to establish three principles: 1. that the scattered nature of settlement required a provincially based scheme 2. that the vote should be...
Under the constitution, the country was divided into six provinces: Auckland, New Plymouth, Wellington, Nelson, Canterbury and Otago – with provision for adding more. Each was to be governed by an elected provincial council of not less than nine members and led by a superintendent chosen by council members. For the colony as a whole there was to be...
The franchise (voting rights) for both provincial councils and the national government was property-based. However, with the qualifications set comparatively low, it was very democratic for the time. Males aged 21 or over, who had freehold land valued at £50 or more, or leasehold land worth £10 more, or who paid at least £10 a year rent in a town, ...
The New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 provided for the election of a representative parliament, but did not change the Crown colony executive – Parliament was still subordinate to the governor. This did not satisfy the leaders of the colonists. What they wanted was responsible government, as at Westminster in Britain, where the leaders of the parli...
The company viewed itself as a prospective quasi-government of New Zealand and in 1845 and 1846 proposed splitting the colony in two, along a line from Mokau in the west to Cape Kidnappers in the east—with the north reserved for Māori and missionaries, while the south would become a self-governing province, known as "New Victoria" and managed by the company for that purpose.
New Zealand achieved self-government and independence from Britain through a series of small steps rather than a single large stride. New Zealand was a colony in the British Empire from 1840 to 1907 and a dominion in the British Commonwealth of Nations from 1907 to 1945, and became a separate monarchical realm of the Commonwealth in 1953.
At first New Zealand was legally part of the New South Wales colony (in Australia), but in 1841 it became a separate crown colony, and Hobson was named governor. Before declaring the annexation of New Zealand, Hobson went through a process of discussion with the northern chiefs from which emerged the Treaty of Waitangi (February 1840).
The 1907 change from Colony to Dominion was largely symbolic, and New Zealand did not become independent until the General Assembly of New Zealand enacted the Statute of Westminster Adoption Act 1947, which applied the Statute of Westminster 1931 to the Dominion of New Zealand (although the United Kingdom retained the right to legislate for New Zealand at its request); certain colonial ...
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At first New Zealand was administered from Australia as part of the colony of New South Wales, and from 16 June 1840 New South Wales laws were deemed to operate in New Zealand. [57] This was a transitional arrangement, and the British Government issued the Charter for Erecting the Colony of New Zealand on 16 November 1840.
