The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]
Legislative Council
Legislative Council.
The Legislative Council of the General Assembly is analogous in its powers and functions to the House of Lords in the British Legislature. It is the second of the three estates; the Governor representing the First Estate or Royalty, and the House of Representatives being a copy of the House of Commons or Third Estate. In the early days of Representative Government in New Zealand, after the granting of the Constitution Act by the Imperial Government in 1852, the Council was nominated by the Governor. This Act provided that the General Assembly should consist of not less than ten members, appointed for life, five to form a quorum. As a matter of fact fifteen Councillors were appointed, and as Auckland was then the seat of Government, and the means of travelling were of the scantiest in those days, the Governor nominated seven Auckland merchants and landholders out of the fifteen to the first Council. Auckland was then more distant from the Southern provinces, as far as facilities for travelling Mere concerned, than Western Australia is now. An effort was made by an enterprising English firm about 1854 to introduce steam navigation in the Colony, and a steamer about 800 tons, the Nelson, was sent out for Messrs. A. Fell and Co., of Nelson, to experiment with. A few months' experience convinced this firm that the high price of coal and the limited number of travellers precluded any possibility of even so small a steamer, with the whole of the coastal trade of the Colony, paying her way, and she was sent back to England, and members in those days had to take their chance of a trading schooner or a brig to get to their legislative duties and back home again. Instances occurred where the shortest route from Lyttelton to Auckland or other ports was by taking a passage by a regular trader to Sydney, and there finding a vessel for the desired port. Therefore, the geographical position of Auckland, and its consequent power owing to the seat of Government being there, was detrimental to the well-being of the rest of the Colony, and was very frequently alluded to as analogous to the Imperial Parliament holding its sessions at the Orkney Isles before steam navigation or railways were invented. This being so, the Auckland members of the Upper House were always in a majority. As time went on and Responsible Government asserted its powers and privileges year by year, the appointments to the Council still remained nominally with the Governor, but became really the patronage of the Ministry, which departure was strictly in keeping with the spirit of the Constitution Act. There has never been any fixed rule as to the qualifications of members or of their number, but previous to 1891 there was a sort of unwritten law in force which followed the lines adopted by the British Legislature, and the appointees to the Council were invariably selected from colonists who either represented property, or had sat in the House of Representatives for several sessions and qualified themselves for the elevation, or had rendered good service to the State; but, generally speaking, it was the landed interest which was first considered, and each provincial district was, as far as circumstances and eligibility of persons would permit, represented fairly. After the Amendment Act of 1891 these conditions were qualified considerably, and a number of gentlemen were called to the Upper House chiefly on the grounds that the Labour legislation then being introduced in the Popular Chamber would be inoperative unless assisted by a strong party of sympathisers in the Upper House. Considerable friction arose between Lord Onslow and the Government of Sir H. Atkinson as to how far his powers of veto could prevail in refusing to call several members to the House at once, and the matter, after due deliberation by the Secretary for the Colonies, resulted in acknowledging the right of the colonies to act in accordance with its own opinions as to what was best for it, and although the Governor has still a power of veto in this matter, the will of the people, as expressed by the Government of the day, is supreme.
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Members Of The Legislative Council
With Dates Of Their Appointment.
Name of Place | Appointed | |
Acland, Hon. John Barton Arundel | Canterbury | 8th July, 65 |
Baillie, Hon. William Douglas Hall | Marlboro' | 8th Mch, 61 |
Barnicoat, Hon. John Wallis | Nelson | 14th May, 83 |
Bolt, Hon. William Mouat | Otago | 15th Oct. 92 |
Bonar, Hon. James Alexander | Westland | 27th June, 68 |
Bowen, Hon. Charles Christopher | Canterbury | 23rd Jan. 91 |
Buckley, Hon. Sir Patrick Alphonsus, K.C.M.G., | Wellington | 25th July, 78 |
Feldwick, Hon. Henry | Otago | 15th Oct. 92 |
Grace, Hon. Morgan Stanislaus, C.M.G., | Wellington | 13th May, 70 |
Holmes, Hon. Mathew | Otago | 19th June, 66 |
Jenkinson, Hon. John Edward | Canterbury | 6th June, 93 |
Jennings, Hon. William Thomas | Auckland | 15th Oct, 92 |
Johnston, Hon. Charles John | Wellington | 23rd Jan. 91 |
Kelly, Hon. Thomas | Taranaki | 15th Oct. 92 |
Kenny, Hon. Courtney William Aylmer Thomas | Marlboro' | 15th May, 85 |
Kerr, Hon. James | Westland | 15th Oct. 92 |
MacGregor, Hon. John | Otago | 15th Oct. 92 |
McCullough, Hon. William | Auckland | 15th Oct. 92 |
McLean, Hon. George | Otago | 19th Dec. 81 |
Miller, Hon. Henry John | Otago | 8th July, 65 |
Montgomery, Hon. William | Canterbury | 15th Oct. 92 |
Morris, Hon. George Bentham | Auckland | 15th May, 85 |
Oliver, Hon. Richard | Otago | 10th Nov. 81 |
Ormond, Hon. John Davies | Napier | 23rd Jan. 91 |
Peacock, Hon. John Thomas, | Canterbury | 3rd June, 73 |
Pharazyn, Hon. Robert | Wellington | 15th May, 85 |
Pollen, Hon. Daniel | Auckland | 12th May, 73 |
Reynolds, Hon. William Hunter | Otago | 6th May, 78 |
Richardson, Hon. Edward, C.M.G. | Wellington | 15th Oct. 92 |
Rigg, Hon. John | Wellington | 6th June, 93 |
Scotland, Hon. Henry | Taranaki | 24th Feb. 68 |
Shephard, Hon. Joseph | Nelson | 15th May, 85 |
Shrimski, Hon. Samuel Edward | Otago | 15th May, 85 |
Stevens, Hon. Edward Cephas John | Canterbury | 7th March, 82 |
Stewart, Hon. William Downey, | Otago | 23rd Jan. 91 |
Swanson, Hon. William | Auckland | 15th May, 85 |
Taiaroa, Hon. Hori Kerei | Otago | 15th May, 85 |
Wahawaha, Hon. Major Ropata, N.Z.C. | Auckland | 10th May, 87 |
Walker, Hon. Lancelot | Canterbury | 15th May, 85 |
Walker, Hon. William Campbell | Canterbury | 15th Oct. 92 |
Whitmore, Hon. Sir George Stoddart, K.C.M.G. | Hawkes Bay | 31st August, 63 |
Whyte, Hon. John Blair | Auckland | 23rd Jan. 91 |
Williams, Hon. Henry | Auckland | 7th March, 82 |
Mr. Arthur Thomas Bothamley, Clerk-Assistant to the Legislative Council, whose father was a member of an old-established firm of London solicitors, was born on the 30th of November, 1846, at Champion Hill, Surrey, and was educated at Temple Grove, East Sheen, and at Blackheath Proprietary School. In 1868 he sailed for Melbourne in the “True Briton,” intending to return shortly to the Old Land. Having crossed over to New Zealand on the way back, after visiting Tasmania, he decided to remain in the Colony. On the 11th of March, 1871, Mr. Bothamley was appointed clerk to the Flax Commissioners, and in the same year obtained employment in the Legislative Council Office. He steadily rose in the service, and on the 1st of September, 1878, was appointed to his present position. Mr. Bothamley was acting-clerk of the Legislative Council in the session of 1886, during the absence of Mr. L. Stowe, and received a unanimous vote of the Council in commendation of his services. In 1876 Mr. Bothamley was secretary to the Philadelphia Exhibition Commission, and went to America in charge of the exhibits. He has sub-edited the transactions of the New Zealand Institute since the publication of the third volume in 1871. He also sub-edited the journals of the Christchurch meeting of the Australasian Association for the Advancement of Science, in 1891, which were edited by Sir J. Hector. Mr. Bothamley, who is an ardent canoeist and photographer, is a member of the Royal Canoe Club the Tainui Canoe Club (of which he is mate), and of other clubs and societies. In 1876 Mr. Bothamley married Elizabeth, daughter of the late Mr. Thomas Poulton, of Leavesden, in Essex, and has five sons and one daughter.
Mr. George Moore, Second Clerk Assistant to the Legislative Council, was born in 1841. His father, the late Mr. John Moore, came out with his family to New Zealand in 1853, per ship “Constantine,” and settled at Waikaraka, on the East Coast, as a sheepfarmer. Mr. Moore joined the Legislative Department in 1874, when he was first employed as an extra clerk to the House of Representatives. After an experience of a year he was selected by Major Campbell, clerk of the Parliaments, to take the duties of reader, and in 1876 he became clerk of Bills and Papers, and Record Clerk. He was appointed second clerk assistant to the Legislative Council by the late Sir John L.C. Richardson in 1878.
Mr. Henry Samuel Hadfield, Interpreter to the Legislative Council, is the eldest son of Bishop Hadfield, of Marton. Born at the mission station at Otaki in 1853, the subject of this notice had opportunities of acquiring a thorough knowledge of the Maori language from his earliest days. At the age of sixteen he entered the Union Bank of Australia at Napier as clerk, and remained for ten years in the service of that bank. In 1879 he was appointed interpreter to the House of Representatives, which position he retained till 1883, when he was transferred to the same position in the Legislative Council. In the years 1880 to 1882 Mr. Hadfield acted under Sir Dillon Bell and Sir W. Fox, as interpreter to the West Coast Royal Commission, which did such splendid service in settling native disputes in the Egmont and Wanganui District. Mr. Hadfield is also interested in sheepfarming. In January 1895, he was married to Miss Bessie, daughter of the Rev. H. E. Tuckey, of Wellington.
Mr. Gustay Poll, Chief Messenger of the Legislative Council, was born in North Germany in the year 1848. He was educated in the “Vaterland,” and learned the handicraft of a blacksmith. With two sisters and seven friends he embarked on board the “Halcione,” Captain Bishop, for Wellington, arriving in the month of August, 1870. Mr. Poll conducted an hotel in Greytown, Wairarapa, for something like a year, and afterwards returned to Wellington, where he started for himself as blacksmith in the Royal Stables, shoeing all the horses used by Messrs. Brogden and Sons, who were at that time forming the railway line to the Lower Hutt. Unfortunately Mr. Poll had to give up business for a time on account of ill health, but after recovering he bought a coach and started to drive between Karori and Wellington. He was unfortunate, however, in meeting with an accident—by which he sustained a crushed ankle—which caused him eighteen months' cessation from work. On recovering sufficiently, in 1876, he secured an appointment as messenger in the House of Representatives, under the late Sir William Fitzherbert, which he retained for two years. When Sir William was appointed to the Legislative Council, in 1879, Mr. Poll was transferred to the service of that august assembly, in which he has remained, and risen to the position of chief messenger. Prior to his appointment to the chief messengership in 1893, Mr. Poll had for many years acted as custodian of the Parliamentary Buildings in the absence of Mr. Letham on his annual holiday. Mr. Poll continued as messenger when Sir Harry Atkinson was speaker, and in June, 1892, when that distinguished politician was stricken down, he died in Mr. Poll's arms in the speaker's room at the Legislative Council.