1903 in New Zealand

← 1902 1901 1900 1903 in New Zealand → 1904 1905 1906
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 1903 in New Zealand.

Incumbents

Regal and viceregal

• Head of State – Edward VII
• Governor – The Earl of Ranfurly GCMG ^[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 – Vacant until 11 September, then William Massey , (Independent). ^[2]

Main centre leaders

• Mayor of Auckland – Alfred Kidd then Edwin Mitchelson
• Mayor of Wellington – John Aitken
• Mayor of Christchurch – Henry Wigram
• Mayor of Dunedin – James Park then Thomas Scott

Events

September

26 September – New Zealand is the first country in the world to pass a Wireless Telegraphy Act. ^[3]

Arts and literature

See 1903 in art, 1903 in literature

Music

See: 1903 in music

Film

• A Message from Mars

Sport

Boxing

The Bantamweight division is included in the national championships for the first time.

National amateur champions

• Heavyweight – H. Taylor (Greymouth)
• Middleweight – J. Griffin (Invercargill)
• Lightweight – A. Farquharson (Dunedin)
• Featherweight – A. Parker (Christchurch)
• Bantamweight – J. Pearce (Christchurch)

Chess

National Champion: J.C. Grierson of Auckland. ^[4]

Golf

The 11th National Amateur Championships were held in Napier ^[5]

• Men: Kurepo Tareha (Napier)
• Women: A. E Pearce

Horse racing

Harness racing

• Auckland Trotting Cup: Plain G ^[6]

Rugby union

• 1903 New Zealand rugby union tour of Australia

Soccer

Provincial league champions: ^[7]

• Auckland: YMCA Auckland
• Otago: Northern
• Wellington: Wellington St. John's

Births

• 30 January: Colin Scrimgeour , minister and broadcaster. ^[8]
• 6 February: Jack Dunning , cricketer
• 21 February: P. H. Matthews , politician
• 11 March: George Dickinson , cricketer
• 11 March: Ronald Syme , historian
• 21 March: Frank Sargeson , writer
• 28 March: Merton Hodge , west-end playwright
• 23 April: John Stewart , politician.
• 10 June: Count Geoffrey Potocki de Montalk , poet.
• 6 July: Edward Musgrave Blaiklock , academic.
• 4 August: Charles Bateson , historian and writer
• 2 November: Anna Lois White , painter
• 15 November: Stewie Dempster , cricketer

Deaths

• 7 March: John Studholme , politician and farmer (born 1829).
• 23 April: William Travers, politician (born 1819).
• 11 June: Thomas Mason , horticulturist and politician.
• 7 July: Agnes Harrold , hotel manager, foster parent, nurse and midwife ^[9]
• 30 August: Joe Warbrick , rugby player (born 1862).

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

References

1. Statistics New Zealand: New Zealand Official Yearbook, 1990. ISSN 0078-0170 page 52
2. "Elections NZ – Leaders of the Opposition". Archived from the original on 17 October 2008. Retrieved 6 April 2008.
3. Ministry of EconomicDevelopment: Celebrating 100 Years of Wireless
4. List of New Zealand Chess Champions Archived 14 October 2008 at the Wayback Machine
5. 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.
6. Auckland Trotting cup at hrnz.co.nz Archived 17 June 2009 at the Wayback Machine
7. "New Zealand: List of champions". Rec.Sport.Soccer Statistics Foundation. 1999.
8. Davidson, Allan K. "Scrimgeour, Colin Graham". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Ministry for Culture and Heritage . Retrieved 29 June 2011.
9. Barlow, Maida. "Agnes Harrold". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Ministry for Culture and Heritage . Retrieved 8 November 2016.

External links

Media related to 1903 in New Zealand at Wikimedia Commons