11th New Zealand Parliament

11th Parliament of New Zealand
← 10th Parliament 12th Parliament →
Overview
Legislative body	New Zealand Parliament
Term	23 January 1891 – 6 October 1893
Election	1890 New Zealand general election
Government	Liberal Government
House of Representatives
Members	74
Speaker of the House	William Steward
Premier	Richard Seddon — John Ballance until 27 April 1893†
Leader of the Opposition	William Rolleston — John Bryce until 31 August 1891
Legislative Council
Members	46
Speaker of the Council	Henry Miller — Harry Atkinson until 28 June 1892†
Sovereign
Monarch	HM Victoria
Governor	HE Rt. Hon. The Earl of Glasgow from 6 June 1892 — HE Rt. Hon. The Earl of Onslow until 25 February 1892

The 11th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand.

Elections for this term were held in 4 Māori electorates and 62 European electorates on 27 November and 5 December 1890, respectively. A total of 74 MPs were elected – a reduction on the 95 MPs of the previous Parliament.

Sessions

The 11th Parliament opened on 23 January 1891, following the 1890 general election. It sat for four sessions (with two sessions in 1891), and was prorogued on 8 November 1893.

Session	Opened	Adjourned
first	23 January 1891	30 January 1891
second	11 June 1891	25 September 1891
third	23 June 1892	11 October 1892
fourth	22 June 1893	6 October 1893

Party standings

Start of Parliament

Party		Leader(s)	Seats at start
	Liberal Party	John Ballance	34
	Conservative	John Bryce	25
	Independents		9
	Liberal-Labour		5
	Independent Liberal		2

End of Parliament

Party		Leader(s)	Seats at end
	Liberal Party	Richard Seddon	34
	Conservative	William Rolleston	24
	Independents		9
	Liberal-Labour		6
	Independent Liberal		2

Historical context

In December 1887, the House of Representatives voted to reduce its membership from general electorates from 91 to 70. The 1890 electoral redistribution used the same 1886 census data used for the 1887 electoral redistribution. In addition, three-member electorates were introduced in the four main centres. This resulted in a major restructuring of electorates, with 12 new electorates created. Of those, four electorates were created for the first time: Te Aroha, Halswell, Dunedin Suburbs, and Palmerston. The remaining eight electorates had previously existed and were re-created through the 1890 electoral redistribution: City of Auckland, City of Christchurch, City of Dunedin, City of Wellington, Ellesmere, Franklin, Geraldine, and Westland.

The 11th Parliament was most significant, as following the 1890 general election, it marked the beginning of party politics in New Zealand with the formation of the Liberal Government, which was to enact major welfare, labour and electoral reforms, including giving the vote to women.

Ministries

The fourth Atkinson Ministry, known as the Scarecrow Ministry, had been the government. The election had returned several "Independent" or "Labour" members as well as the Liberals. Some of Atkinson's conservative colleagues proposed schemes that would keep him in office, but Atkinson, who had been Premier on and off for 14 years, announced that the house would be called on 23 January 1891 to decide. On 21 January Atkinson told his colleagues that he was retiring on doctor's orders, resigned his seat and was sworn into the Legislative Council, and appointed Speaker. When William Rolleston lost the ministerial nomination for Speaker, Edwin Mitchelson announced the resignation of the government. The Governor asked John Ballance to form a government, which he did on 24 January. It was found to have a majority in the house. After a week of debate, the house went into recess until June.

Atkinson was appointed to the Council with six colleagues, on 20 or 22 January 1891. He was widely regarded as having stacked the council before leaving office. There was a 5000-signature petition against the appointments, but they were approved by the Governor, The Earl of Onslow. The seven appointments on 20 or 22 January to the Council were Atkinson himself plus Charles Bowen, James Fulton, Charles Johnston, John Davies Ormond, William Downie Stewart Sr and John Blair Whyte.

Ballance had considerable difficulty in achieving reform of the Legislative Council, with new appointments to be for seven years rather than life, and he had major disagreements with the Governor. Ballance's victory is seen as establishing an important precedent in the relationship between Governor and Prime Minister.

The Ballance Ministry was the beginning of the Liberal Government, which lasted until 1912. John Ballance died suddenly on 27 April 1893 and whilst Ballance had favoured Robert Stout as his successor, the caucus selected Richard Seddon instead. The Seddon Ministry was in power from 1 May 1893 until 10 June 1906, when Seddon in turn died.

Initial composition of the 11th Parliament

74 seats were created across 66 electorates.

While the Liberal party was the only established party structure at the time, many independent conservative MPs coalesced as a semi-formal conservative opposition under the leadership of John Bryce. Due to the loose nature of this grouping it is difficult to determine the affiliation of some Independent MPs.

	Party	Name	Electorate	Term
	Liberal	John Joyce	Akaroa	Second
	Conservative	Edward George	Ashburton	Third
	Liberal	Richard Meredith	Ashley	First
	Liberal	William Rees	City of Auckland	Second
	Liberal	John Shera	City of Auckland	First
	Liberal	Thomas Thompson	City of Auckland	Third
	Liberal	Edwin Blake	Avon	Third
	Liberal	Joseph Ward	Awarua	Second
	Liberal	Robert Houston	Bay of Islands	First
	Conservative	James Thomson	Bruce	Sixth
	Independent	Eugene O'Conor	Buller	Fourth
	Liberal	Westby Perceval	City of Christchurch	Second
	Liberal	William Reeves	City of Christchurch	Second
	Independent	Richard Taylor	City of Christchurch	Third
	Liberal	Thomas Mackenzie	Clutha	Second
	Liberal	Henry Fish	City of Dunedin	Third
	Liberal	William Hutchison	City of Dunedin	Third
	Liberal–Labour	David Pinkerton	City of Dunedin	First
	Liberal	William Dawson	Dunedin Suburbs	First
	Liberal	William Kelly	East Coast	Third
	Conservative	Edwin Mitchelson	Eden	Fourth
	Conservative	Harry Atkinson	Egmont	Ninth
	Conservative	John Hall	Ellesmere	Seventh
	Conservative	Ebenezer Hamlin	Franklin	Sixth
	Conservative	Arthur Rhodes	Geraldine	Second
	Liberal	Arthur Guinness	Grey	Third
	Conservative	William Rolleston	Halswell	Seventh
	Conservative	William Russell	Hawke's Bay	Fifth
	Liberal–Labour	William Tanner	Heathcote	First
	Conservative	Alfred Newman	Hutt	Third
	Liberal	Richard Reeves	Inangahua	Third
	Liberal–Labour	James Kelly	Invercargill	First
	Conservative	Richard Moore	Kaiapoi	First
	Conservative	Frank Buckland	Manukau	Second
	Conservative	Robert Thompson	Marsden	Second
	Liberal	Alexander Hogg	Masterton	First
	Conservative	George Richardson	Mataura	Third
	Conservative	Scobie Mackenzie	Mount Ida	Third
	Conservative	George Swan	Napier	First
	Conservative	Joseph Harkness	City of Nelson	Second
	Liberal	Edward Smith	New Plymouth	First
	Liberal	David Goldie	Newton	Third
	Liberal	Thomas Duncan	Oamaru	Fourth
	Conservative	James Wilson	Palmerston	Fourth
	Conservative	Frank Lawry	Parnell	Second
	Liberal–Labour	William Earnshaw	Peninsula	First
	Independent	James Mills	Port Chalmers	Third
	Conservative	Douglas Macarthur	Rangitikei	Third
	Independent	Alfred Saunders	Selwyn	Fifth
	Liberal	Walter Carncross	Taieri	First
	Independent	William Allen	Te Aroha	First
	Liberal	Alfred Cadman	Thames	Fourth
	Independent Liberal	William Hall-Jones	Timaru	Second
	Conservative	Hugh Valentine	Tuapeka	Second
	Conservative	John Bryce	Waikato	Eighth
	Liberal	William Steward	Waimate	Fifth
	Liberal	Charles H Mills	Waimea-Picton	First
	Liberal	William Smith	Waipawa	Fourth
	Conservative	Walter Buchanan	Wairarapa	Fourth
	Liberal–Labour	Lindsay Buick	Wairau	First
	Liberal	John McKenzie	Waitaki	Fourth
	Independent Liberal	Jackson Palmer	Waitemata	First
	Conservative	George Hutchinson	Waitotara	Second
	Conservative	Thomas Fergus	Wakatipu	Fourth
	Liberal	James Mackintosh	Wallace	First
	Liberal	John Ballance	Wanganui	Sixth
	Conservative	John Duthie	City of Wellington	First
	Liberal	George Fisher	City of Wellington	Third
	Liberal	Kennedy Macdonald	City of Wellington	First
	Liberal	Richard Seddon	Westland	Fifth
	Independent	James Carroll	Eastern Maori	Second
	Independent	Sydney Taiwhanga	Northern Maori	Second
	Liberal	Tame Parata	Southern Maori	Third
	Independent	Hoani Taipua	Western Maori	Third

Table footnotes:

Changes during 11th Parliament

There were a number of changes during the term of the 11th Parliament.

Electorate and by-election		Date	Incumbent		Cause	Winner
Northern Maori	1891	7 February		Sydney Taiwhanga	Death		Eparaima Te Mutu Kapa
Egmont	1891	17 February		Harry Atkinson	Appointed to Legislative Council		Felix McGuire
Newton	1891	31 March		David Goldie	Resignation		Sir George Grey
Te Aroha	1891	9 July		William Allen	Disallowed on petition		William Fraser
Waikato	1891	6 October		John Bryce	Resignation		Edward Lake
City of Christchurch	1891	9 October		Westby Perceval	Appointed Agent General		Ebenezer Sandford
City of Wellington	1892	15 January		Kennedy Macdonald	Resignation		William McLean
Bruce	1892	4 May		James Thomson	Resignation		James Allen
Rangitikei	1892	8 July		Douglas Macarthur	Death		Robert Bruce
Inangahua	1893	8 June		Richard Reeves	Bankruptcy		Sir Robert Stout
Wanganui	1893	9 June		John Ballance	Death		Archibald Willis
Thames	1893	26 July		Alfred Cadman	Resignation		James McGowan
City of Auckland	1893	4 August		William Rees	Resignation		Alfred Cadman

Person	Year	Seat	From		To
Frank Lawry	1891	Parnell		Conservative		Liberal

References

• Atkinson, Neill (2003). Adventures in Democracy: A History of the Vote in New Zealand. University of Otago Press. ISBN 978-1-877276-58-3. OCLC 469393822.
• Bassett, Michael (1982). Three Party Politics in New Zealand 1911–1931. Auckland: Historical Publications. ISBN 0-86870-006-1.
• McIvor, Timothy (1989). The Rainmaker: A biography of John Ballance. Auckland: Heinemann Reed. ISBN 0-7900-0024-5.
• McLintock, A. H. (22 April 2009) [1966]. "Liberal Party". An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand.
• McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN 0-477-01384-8.
• Scholefield, Guy (1950) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 (3rd ed.). Wellington: Govt. Printer.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.