1904 in New Zealand explained

The following lists events that happened during 1904 in New Zealand.

Incumbents

Regal and viceregal

• Head of State – Edward VII
• Governor – The Earl of Ranfurly GCMG, succeeded the same year by The Lord Plunket GCMG KCVO ^[1]

Government

The 15th New Zealand Parliament continued. In government was the Liberal Party.

• Speaker of the House – Arthur Guinness (Liberal)
• Prime Minister – Richard Seddon
• Minister of Finance – Richard Seddon
• Chief Justice – Sir Robert Stout

Parliamentary opposition

• Leader of the Opposition – William Massey, (Independent).^[2]

Main centre leaders

• Mayor of Auckland – Edwin Mitchelson
• Mayor of Wellington – John Aitken then Thomas Hislop
• Mayor of Christchurch – Henry Wigram then Charles Gray
• Mayor of Dunedin – Thomas Scott, then Thomas Christie

Events

• 13 January: Portobello Marine Laboratory opens, initially as a fish hatchery
• 17 March: The New Zealand Horticultural Trades Association is founded in Normanby.^[3]
• 9 August: A magnitude 7.0-7.2 earthquake strikes Cape Turnagain, causing one death.
• September: The Canterbury Steam Shipping Co is founded in Christchurch.^[4]
• 15 November: The Waikato Independent begins publishing in Cambridge. The newspaper became the Cambridge Independent in 1966. It closed in 1995.^[5]

Arts and literature

See 1904 in art, 1904 in literature,

Music

See: 1904 in music

Sport

Association football

• A New South Wales representative team tours, playing a New Zealand team in Dunedin and Wellington. These are the first recognised matches by a New Zealand national football team.^[6]
  • 23 July, Dunedin: NZ loses 0–1
  • 30 July, Wellington: Draw 3–3

Boxing

National amateur champions

• Heavyweight – J. Griffin (Greymouth)
• Middleweight – J. Griffin (Greymouth)
• Lightweight – T. Rickards (Christchurch)
• Featherweight – J. Watson (Christchurch)
• Bantamweight – J. Gosling (Wellington)

Chess

• The 17th National Chess championship was held in Wellington. The champion was W.E. Mason of Wellington.^[7]

Golf

The 12th National Amateur Championships were held in Otago ^[8]

• Men: A.H. Fisher (Otago)
• Women: Miss E. Lewis

Horse racing

Harness racing

• The inaugural running of the New Zealand Trotting Cup is won by Monte Carlo ^[9]
• Auckland Trotting Cup: Rebel Boy^[10]

Rugby union

• Wellington defeat Auckland 6-3, becoming the first challenger to win the Ranfurly Shield.
• Wellington defend the Ranfurly shield against Canterbury (6–3) and Otago (15–13).

Soccer

Provincial league champions:^[11]

• Auckland: Auckland Corinthians
• Otago: Northern
• Southland: Nightcaps
• Taranaki: New Plymouth
• Wellington: Diamond Wellington

Births

• 2 February: A. R. D. Fairburn, poet.^[12]
• 7 February:Morton Coutts – invented the continuous fermentation method of brewing beer.
• 11 February: Keith Holyoake, politician and 26th Prime Minister.^[13]
• 12 March: Ken James, cricketer.^[14]
• 24 December: Thomas O'Halloran, Australian Rules footballer.

Deaths

• 5 January: William Walker, politician and speaker of the Legislative Council (b. 1837).
• 11 February: George Lumsden, politician (b. 1815).
• 22 February: James Nairn, painter (b. 1859)
• 16 April: Charles Edward Haughton, politician (b. 1827).
• 2 October: Thomas Ellison, rugby player (b. c1867).
• 11 December: Octavius Hadfield, Anglican Primate of New Zealand (b. 1814).
• Tamati Ngakaho, a Ngāti Porou carver.

See also

• History of New Zealand
• List of years in New Zealand
• Military history of New Zealand
• Timeline of New Zealand history
• Timeline of New Zealand's links with Antarctica
• Timeline of the New Zealand environment

Notes and References

1. Statistics New Zealand: New Zealand Official Yearbook, 1990. ISSN 0078-0170 page 52
2. Web site: Elections NZ – Leaders of the Opposition. 6 April 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20081017200326/http://www1.elections.org.nz/democracy/leaders-opposition.html. 17 October 2008. dead.
3. Book: The New Zealand Book of Events. 1986. Reed Methuen. Auckland. 047400123 7. 154.
4. Book: The New Zealand Book of Events. 1986. Reed Methuen. Auckland. 047400123 7. 88.
5. Web site: Waikato Independent. Cambridge Museum. 21 June 2008. https://web.archive.org/web/20120606022626/http://cambridgemuseum.org.nz/Npapers/WaikCbInde/indefront.htm. 6 June 2012. dead.
6. http://www.ultimatenzsoccer.com/NZRepSoccer/id164.htm List of New Zealand national soccer matches
7. http://www.poisonpawn.co.nz/nzcftitles.htm List of New Zealand Chess Champions
8. Web site: Men's Golf – National Champions. An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. McLintock. A. H.. Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. 1966. 13 February 2009.
9. Web site: List of NZ Trotting cup winners . 6 May 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20120222233106/http://www.hrnz.co.nz/data/major_races/nz_trotting_cup.htm . 22 February 2012 . dead .
10. http://www.hrnz.co.nz/data/major_races/major_race2.htm Auckland Trotting cup at hrnz.co.nz
11. Web site: New Zealand: List of champions. Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 1999.
12. http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/F/FairburnArthurRexDugard/FairburnArthurRexDugard/en Te Ara
13. Web site: Te Ara . 11 March 2008 . https://web.archive.org/web/20080209225010/http://www.teara.govt.nz/1966/H/HolyoakeRightHonKeithJackaCh/HolyoakeRightHonKeithJackaCh/en . 9 February 2008 . dead .
14. http://content-aus.cricinfo.com/ci/content/player/37487.html Cricinfo