1904 in New Zealand

The following lists events that happened during 1904 in New Zealand.

Incumbents

Regal and viceregal

• Head of State – Edward VII
• Governor – The Earl of Ranfurly <small>GCMG</small>, succeeded the same year by The Lord Plunket <small>GCMG KCVO</small>

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 – William Massey, (Independent).

Main centre leaders

• Mayor of Auckland – Edwin Mitchelson
• Mayor of Wellington – John Aitken then Thomas Hislop
• Mayor of Christchurch – Henry Wigram then Charles Gray
• Mayor of Dunedin – Thomas Scott, then Thomas Christie

Events

• 13 January: Portobello Marine Laboratory opens, initially as a fish hatchery
• 17 March: The New Zealand Horticultural Trades Association is founded in Normanby.
• 9 August: A magnitude 7.0-7.2 earthquake strikes Cape Turnagain, causing one death.
• September: The Canterbury Steam Shipping Co is founded in Christchurch.
• 15 November: The Waikato Independent begins publishing in Cambridge. The newspaper became the Cambridge Independent in 1966. It closed in 1995.

Arts and literature

See 1904 in art, 1904 in literature,

Music

See: 1904 in music

Sport

Association football

• A New South Wales representative team tours, playing a New Zealand team in Dunedin and Wellington. These are the first recognised matches by a New Zealand national football team.
• 23 July, Dunedin: NZ loses 0–1
• 30 July, Wellington: Draw 3–3

Boxing

National amateur champions

• Heavyweight – J. Griffin (Greymouth)
• Middleweight – J. Griffin (Greymouth)
• Lightweight – T. Rickards (Christchurch)
• Featherweight – J. Watson (Christchurch)
• Bantamweight – J. Gosling (Wellington)

Chess

• The 17th National Chess championship was held in Wellington. The champion was W.E. Mason of Wellington.

Golf

The 12th National Amateur Championships were held in Otago

• Men: A.H. Fisher (Otago)
• Women: Miss E. Lewis

Horse racing

Harness racing

• The inaugural running of the New Zealand Trotting Cup is won by Monte Carlo
• Auckland Trotting Cup: Rebel Boy

Rugby union

• Wellington defeat Auckland 6-3, becoming the first challenger to win the Ranfurly Shield.
• Wellington defend the Ranfurly shield against Canterbury (6–3) and Otago (15–13).

Soccer

Provincial league champions:

• Auckland: Auckland Corinthians
• Otago: Northern
• Southland: Nightcaps
• Taranaki: New Plymouth
• Wellington: Diamond Wellington

Births

• 2 February: A. R. D. Fairburn, poet. (died 1957)
• 7 February: Morton Coutts, invented the continuous fermentation method of brewing beer. (died 2004)
• 11 February: Keith Holyoake, politician and 26th Prime Minister. (died 1983)
• 12 March: Ken James, cricketer. (died 1976)
• 13 July: Jim Burrows, teacher, sportsman, administrator, and military leader (died 1991)
• 24 December: Thomas O'Halloran, Australian Rules footballer. (died 1956)

Deaths

• 5 January: William Walker, politician and speaker of the Legislative Council (b. 1837).
• 11 February: George Lumsden, politician (b. 1815).
• 22 February: James Nairn, painter (b. 1859)
• 16 April: Charles Edward Haughton, politician (b. 1827).
• 2 October: Thomas Ellison, rugby player (b. c1867).
• 11 December: Octavius Hadfield, Anglican Primate of New Zealand (b. 1814).
• Tamati Ngakaho, a Ngāti Porou carver.

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

External links