Resident Commissioner of the Cook Islands

Last updated

The Resident Commissioner was the highest authority present in the Cook Islands between 1901 and 1965. The post was created on 11 June 1901 when New Zealand took over responsibility for the islands, replacing the British Resident, and was succeeded by the New Zealand High Commissioner. The post-holder was also the presiding officer of the Legislative Council from 1946 until 1957.

List of resident commissioners

The following table is a complete list of resident commissioners from 1901 to 1965: [1]

DatesResident Commissioner
1901–1909 Walter Edward Gudgeon
1909–1913 James Eman Smith
1913–1916 Henry William Northcroft
1916–1921 Frederick Platts
1921–1923 John George Lewis Hewitt
1923–1937 Hugh Ayson
1937–1938 Stephen Smith
1938–1943 Hugh Ayson
1943–1951 William Tailby
1951–1960 Geoffrey Nevill
1960–1965 Oliver Dare

Related Research Articles

The history of Niue is the history of the area and people of Niue, including its indigenous Polynesian societies. Niue was first settled by Polynesian sailors from Samoa in around 900 AD. Further settlers arrived from Tonga in the 16th century.

Politics of the Pitcairn Islands Political system of the Pitcairn Islands

The Pitcairn Islands are a British Overseas Territory in the South Pacific Ocean, with a population of about 50. The politics of the islands takes place in a framework of a parliamentary representative democratic dependency, whereby the Mayor is the head of government. The territory's constitution is the Local Government Ordinance of 1964. In terms of population, the Pitcairn Islands is the smallest democracy in the world.

Gilbert and Ellice Islands British colony in the Pacific

The Gilbert and Ellice Islands in the Pacific Ocean were part of the British Empire from 1892 to 1976. They were a protectorate from 1892 to 12 January 1916, and then a colony until 1 January 1976. The history of the colony was mainly characterized by phosphate mining on Ocean Island. In October 1975, these islands were divided by force of law into two separate colonies, and they became independent nations shortly thereafter: The Ellice Islands became Tuvalu in 1978, and the Gilbert Islands became part of Kiribati in 1979.

Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico Non-voting member of the United States House of Representatives

The Resident Commissioner of Puerto Rico is a non-voting member of the United States House of Representatives elected by the voters of the U.S. Commonwealth of Puerto Rico every four years, the only member of the House of Representatives who serves a four-year term.

Resident commissioner was or is an official title of several different types of commissioners, who were or are representatives of any level of government. Historically, they were appointed by the British Crown in overseas protectorates, or colonies, and some still exist in this capacity. The United States of America once had a resident commissioner in the Philippines and the Puerto Rico resident commissioner resides in Washington DC. State governments of today's Republic of India have a resident commissioner to represent them in New Delhi.

A resident minister, or resident for short, is a government official required to take up permanent residence in another country. A representative of his government, he officially has diplomatic functions which are often seen as a form of indirect rule.

Realm of New Zealand

The Realm of New Zealand consists of the entire area in which the monarch of New Zealand functions as head of state. The Realm of New Zealand is not a federation; it is a collection of states and territories united under its monarch. New Zealand is an independent and sovereign state. It has one Antarctic territorial claim, one dependent territory (Tokelau), and two associated states.

British Western Pacific Territories

The British Western Pacific Territories (BWPT) was the name of a colonial entity, created in 1877, for the administration, under a single representative of the British Crown, styled High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, of a series of Pacific islands in and around Oceania. Except for Fiji and the Solomon Islands, most of these colonial possessions were relatively minor.

Ralph Champneys Williams

Sir Ralph Champneys Williams was a British colonial governor.

Albert Henry (politician) First Premier of the Cook Islands

Albert Royle Henry was the first Premier of the Cook Islands. He was forced to resign from that post in a 1978 voting scandal for which he was later convicted of fraud. Henry was the founder and first leader of the Cook Islands Party (CIP).

In the Commonwealth of Nations, a high commissioner is the senior diplomat in charge of the diplomatic mission of one Commonwealth government to another. Instead of an embassy, the diplomatic mission is generally called a high commission.

Ned Ellison

Edward Pohau Ellison, generally known as Ned Ellison and also as Pohau Erihana, was a New Zealand rugby player, doctor, and public health administrator.

Hugh Ayson

Hugh Fraser Ayson was a New Zealand lawyer, judge and public administrator. He was Resident Commissioner of the Cook Islands in two spells between 1923 and 1943

The Department of Island Territories is a now-defunct New Zealand government department that was tasked with administrating New Zealand's three Pacific Islands territories—the Cook Islands, Niue, and Tokelau, and the country's League of Nations mandate Samoa. It was established on 3 October 1919 under the "External Affairs Bill" as the Department of External Affairs. In 1943, the Department was renamed the Department of Island Territories after a separate Department of External Affairs was created to conduct the country's external relations. In 1975, the Department was dissolved and its functions were absorbed back into the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the successor to the External Affairs Department.

District officer

The District Officer, was a commissioned officer of one of the colonial governments of the British Empire, from the mid-1930s also a member of the Colonial Service of the United Kingdom, who was responsible for a District of one of the overseas territories of the Empire.

Stephen Smith (resident commissioner)

Stephen John Smith was a New Zealand public administrator. He served as Resident Commissioner of the Cook Islands from 1937 until 1938.

References

  1. Henige, David P. (1970). Colonial Governors. p. 110.