1901 in New Zealand

← 1900 1899 1898 1901 in New Zealand → 1902 1903 1904
Decades:	1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s
See also:	History of New Zealand List of years in New Zealand Timeline of New Zealand history

The following lists events that happened during 1901 in New Zealand.

Population

A New Zealand census was held in March 1901. The population was given as 815,862, consisting of 43,112 Māori, 31 Moriori, and 772,719 others. ^[1] – an increase in the non-Māori population of 9.86% over the previous census in 1896. ^[2]

The figures for the 1901 census revealed that the North Island's population had exceeded the South Island's for the first time since the Central Otago Gold Rush of 1861 – the two islands (plus their associated minor offshore islands) had populations of 390,579 and 382,140 respectively. Only 40% of the country's population was based in urban centres, and only two of these centres, Auckland and Dunedin, had populations of over 25,000.

Incumbents

Regal and viceregal

• Head of State – Victoria (until 22 January), succeeded by Edward VII
• Governor – The Earl of Ranfurly GCMG ^[3]

Government

The 14th New Zealand Parliament continued. In government was the Liberal Party.

• Speaker of the House – Maurice O'Rorke (Liberal)
• Premier / Prime Minister – Richard Seddon
• Minister of Finance – Richard Seddon

Parliamentary opposition

• Leader of the Opposition – William Russell , (Independent) until 3 July, then vacant. ^[4]

Main centre leaders

• Mayor of Auckland – Logan Campbell
• Mayor of Wellington – John Aitken
• Mayor of Christchurch – William Reece then Arthur Rhodes
• Mayor of Dunedin – Robert Chisholm then George Denniston

Events

• 28 January – Captain William James Hardham became the first New Zealand-born winner of the Victoria Cross as a result of action in the South African War (Boer War). ^[5]
• 2 February – a day of mourning acknowledging the death of Queen Victoria brings the nation to a standstill.
• Union of the Synod of Otago and Southland with the Northern Presbyterian Church to form the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand.
• A second visit to New Zealand by members of the Royal Family: the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall (later to become George V and Queen Mary).
• The New Zealand red ensign became the official flag for merchant vessels. ^[6]
• Founding of the New Zealand Socialist Party.
• New Zealand rejects the proposal to become a state in the Commonwealth of Australia
• Richard Seddon adopts the term Prime Minister rather than Premier.

Arts and literature

See 1901 in art, 1901 in literature

Music

See: 1901 in music

Sport

Chess

National Champion: D. Forsyth of Dunedin. ^[7]

Golf

The 9th National Amateur Championships were held in Auckland ^[8]

• Men: Arthur Duncan (Wellington) – 3rd title
• Women: E.S. Gillies

Horse racing

Harness racing

• Auckland Trotting Cup: Thorndean ^[9]

Rugby

• The Earl of Ranfurly announced his intention to present a cup to the NZRFU, without stipulating what form of competition it should be awarded for.
• A New Zealand representative team won both test matches against a touring team from New South Wales.

Soccer

Provincial league champions: ^[10]

• Auckland: Grafton AFC (Auckland)
• Otago: Roslyn Dunedin
• Wellington: Wellington Swifts

Births

• 7 February: Arnold Nordmeyer , politician.
• 26 February: Leslie Munro , diplomat.
• 25 March: Raymond Firth , ethnologist.
• 10 April: Robert Aitken , physician and university administrator.
• 17 May: Robert Macfarlane , politician.
• 19 May: William Stevenson , industrialist and philanthropist.
• 13 June: John Cawte Beaglehole , historian and biographer.
• 15 June: Dove-Myer Robinson , long-serving mayor of Auckland.
• 5 July: Len Lye , sculptor, filmmaker, writer.
• 24 December: Nola Luxford , silent film actress. ^[11]

Deaths

• 14 February: Edward Stafford . politician and 3rd Premier of New Zealand.
• 17 April Loughlin O'Brien, politician.
• 15 July: Frederic Carrington , surveyor and politician. ^[12]
• 6 August (in Scotland): John McKenzie , politician
• 2 September:
  • Charles Brown, politician
  • Benjamin Crisp, carrier and temperance reformer ^[13]
• 27 September: Matthew Holmes, politician
• 5 December Francis Rich, politician and farmer.

See also

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

References

1. "Results of a Census of the Colony of New Zealand, Taken for the Night of the 31st March, 1901". 1 October 1902. Table 1.
2. The non-Māori population was 703,360 in the 1896 census. "Census of New Zealand, April, 1896". Table 1.
3. Statistics New Zealand: New Zealand Official Yearbook, 1990. ISSN 0078-0170 page 52
4. "Elections NZ – Leaders of the Opposition". Archived from the original on 17 October 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2008.
5. NZhistory.net
6. New Zealand Ensigns
7. List of New Zealand Chess Champions Archived 14 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
8. McLintock, A. H., ed. (1966). "Men's Golf – National Champions". An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand. Te Ara – The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 13 February 2009.
9. Auckland Trotting cup at hrnz.co.nz Archived 17 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
10. "New Zealand: List of champions". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 1999.
11. IMDB
12. F.A. Carrington at DNZB
13. Smith, Dawn M. "Benjamin Crisp". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Ministry for Culture and Heritage . Retrieved 23 April 2017.

External links

Media related to 1901 in New Zealand at Wikimedia Commons