Nelson Province

Nelson Province initially covered the entire upper South Island. Marlborough Province split off from Nelson Province on 1 November 1859 because the majority of the income of the provincial council came from land sales in the Marlborough region, but the funds were mostly used in the Nelson region. Land sales in Nelson and Marlborough netted the Nelson Provincial Council £33,000 and £160,000, respectively. Of that, £200 was expended benefiting the Marlborough region.^[1] There was considerable conflict between Superintendent John Perry Robinson's policies of supporting smaller landholders, and the objectives of the large pastoral runholders in the Wairau Valley. The New Provinces Act 1858 allowed for parts of a province to break away if the area was large enough, and enough voters supported such a move. The petition was signed by almost all settlers in the Wairau; only six withholding their support for a split. Marlborough Province was gazetted on 4 October 1859.^[2]

The Nelson Provincial Council was established with fifteen members, and the province was divided into electoral districts for the election of the Superintendent and members of the council. The seven districts were: Town of Nelson, five members; Suburban Districts, one member; Waimea East District, two members; Waimea West District, one member; Waimea South District, two members; Motueka and Massacre Bay District, two members; Wairau District, two members.^[3]

Three candidates, Edward Stafford, Francis Jollie and John Waring Saxton, ran for election as Nelson's first superintendent on 1 August 1853. Stafford won, with vote counts being: Stafford (251), Saxton (206), Jollie (130). Stafford is remembered for his free, secular and compulsory education system that became the model for New Zealand, with this 'Nelson system' introduced to all state primary schools in 1877.

Nelson was the designated seat of government and Superintendent John Perry Robinson laid the foundation stone for the Provincial Government buildings in Nelson on 26 August 1859.^[4] The building was in Albion Square in Bridge Street. It was designed by visiting architect Maxwell Bury and modeled on Aston Hall near Birmingham, although the Government buildings were built in timber, whereas Aston Hall was in stone. When the buildings were demolished in 1969, amidst much controversy, they were run down and had stood empty for some years. The Nelson District Court building now stands on the site.^[5]

During the First Taranaki War in 1860 nearly 1,200 Taranaki settlers, including women and children, were relocated to Nelson. The Nelson Provincial Council funded the building of cottages known as the "Taranaki Buildings" to house them. Upon the cessation of hostilities the war refugees were offered free passage back to Taranaki. The majority took up the offer, but some chose to remain in Nelson.

From 1853 to 1873, the area that would later become Grey County was partly in Nelson Province and partly in Canterbury Province. The boundary between the provinces had been set as a straight line from the head of the Hurunui River to Lake Brunner at a time when the area was virtually uninhabited. The West Coast gold rush of the 1860s straddled that boundary, with a population boom also straddling the boundary.^[6] In 1866, there had been a proposal for the portion in Canterbury Province, including the urban area of Greymouth and the rural area south, to be annexed and solely administered by Nelson Province.^[7] The Canterbury portion was transferred to a newly created Westland Province in 1873 and the other portion remained in Nelson Province until the abolition of the provinces in 1876.^[6]

In 1851 the statistics of the area that was to become the Nelson Province was 4,587 and by 1869 it had a population of 22,501.^[15]

New Zealand law provides for a provincial anniversary day.

Nelson Province had four superintendents:^[16]

• Nelson Education Act 1856^[17]
• Nelson Improvement Act 1856^[18]
• Nelson Institution Act 1859^[19]
• Nelson Waterworks Act 1863^[20]
• Nelson Waterworks Act Amendment Act 1875^[21]

• Nelson Central Board of Education^[22]
• Nelson Board of Works^[23]

• Nelson-Marlborough Regional Council