11th New Zealand Parliament

The 11th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand.

Elections for this term were held in 4 Māori electorates and 62 European electorates on 27 November and 5 December 1890, respectively. A total of 74 MPs were elected - a reduction on the 95 MPs of the previous Parliament.

Sessions

The 11th Parliament opened on 23 January 1891, following the 1890 general election. It sat for four sessions (with two sessions in 1891), and was prorogued on 8 November 1893.

Session	Opened	Adjouned
first	23 January 1891	30 January 1891
second	11 June 1891	25 September 1891
third	23 June 1892	11 October 1892
fourth	22 June 1893	6 October 1893

Historical context

In December 1887, the House of Representatives voted to reduce its membership from general electorates from 91 to 70. The 1890 electoral redistribution used the same 1886 census data used for the 1887 electoral redistribution. In addition, three-member electorates were introduced in the four main centres. This resulted in a major restructuring of electorates, with 12 new electorates created. Of those, four electorates were created for the first time: Te Aroha, Halswell, Dunedin Suburbs, and Palmerston. The remaining eight electorates had previously existed and were re-created through the 1890 electoral redistribution: City of Auckland, City of Christchurch, City of Dunedin, City of Wellington, Ellesmere, Franklin, Geraldine, and Westland.

The 11th Parliament was most significant, as following the 1890 general election, it marked the beginning of party politics in New Zealand with the formation of the Liberal Government, which was to enact major welfare, labour and electoral reforms, including giving the vote to women.

Ministries

The fourth Atkinson Ministry, known as the Scarecrow Ministry, had been the government. The election had returned several "Independent" or "Labour" members as well as the Liberals. Some of Atkinson’s conservative colleagues proposed schemes that would keep him in office, but Atkinson, who had been Premier on and off for 14 years, announced that the house would be called on 23 January 1891 to decide. On 21 January Atkinson told his colleagues that he was retiring on doctor’s orders, resigned his seat and was sworn into the Legislative Council, and appointed Speaker. When William Rolleston lost the ministerial nomination for Speaker, Edwin Mitchelson announced the resignation of the government. The Governor asked John Ballance to form a government, which he did on 24 January. It was found to have a majority in the house. After a week of debate, the house went into recess until June.

Atkinson was appointed to the Council with six colleagues, on 20 or 22 January 1891. He was widely regarded as having stacked the council before leaving office. There was a 5000-signature petition against the appointments, but they were approved by the Governor, The Earl of Onslow. The seven appointments on 20 or 22 January to the Council were Atkinson himself plus Charles Bowen, James Fulton, Charles John Johnston, John Davies Ormond, William Downie Stewart, Sr. and John Blair Whyte.

Ballance had considerable difficulty in achieving reform of the Legislative Council, with new appointments to be for seven years rather than life, and he had major disagreements with the Governor. Ballance's victory is seen as establishing an important precedent in the relationship between Governor and Prime Minister.

The Ballance Ministry was the beginning of the Liberal Government, which lasted until 1912. John Ballance died suddenly on 27 April 1893 and whilst Ballance had favoured Robert Stout as his successor, the caucus selected Richard Seddon instead. The Seddon Ministry was in power from 1 May 1893 until 10 June 1906, when Seddon in turn died.

Initial composition of the 11th Parliament

74 seats were created across 66 electorates.

While the Liberal party was the only established party structure at the time, many independent conservative MPs coalesced as a semi-formal Opposition under the leadership of John Bryce. Due to the loose nature of this grouping it is difficult to determine the affiliation of some Independent MPs.

	Party	Name	Electorate	Term
	Liberal	John Joyce	Akaroa	7000200000000000000♠Second
	Opposition	Edward George	Ashburton	7000300000000000000♠Third
	Liberal	Richard Meredith	Ashley	7000100000000000000♠First
	Liberal	William Rees	AucklandCity of Auckland	7000200000000000000♠Second
	Liberal	John Shera	AucklandCity of Auckland	7000100000000000000♠First
	Liberal	Thomas Thompson	AucklandCity of Auckland	7000300000000000000♠Third
	Liberal	Edwin Blake	Avon	7000300000000000000♠Third
	Liberal	Joseph Ward	Awarua (unopposed)	7000200000000000000♠Second
	Liberal	Robert Houston	Bay of Islands	7000100000000000000♠First
		James Thomson	Bruce	7000600000000000000♠Sixth
		Eugene O'Conor	Buller (unopposed)	7000400000000000000♠Fourth
	Liberal	Westby Perceval	ChristchurchCity of Christchurch	7000200000000000000♠Second
	Liberal	William Reeves	ChristchurchCity of Christchurch	7000200000000000000♠Second
	Independent	Richard Taylor	ChristchurchCity of Christchurch	7000300000000000000♠Third
	Liberal	Thomas Mackenzie	Clutha (unopposed)	7000200000000000000♠Second
	Liberal	Henry Fish	DunedinCity of Dunedin	7000300000000000000♠Third
	Liberal	William Hutchison	DunedinCity of Dunedin	7000300000000000000♠Third
	Liberal-Labour	David Pinkerton	DunedinCity of Dunedin	7000100000000000000♠First
	Liberal	William Dawson	Dunedin Suburbs	7000100000000000000♠First
	Liberal	William Kelly	East Coast	7000300000000000000♠Third
	Opposition	Edwin Mitchelson	Eden	7000400000000000000♠Fourth
	Opposition	Harry Atkinson	Egmont	7000900000000000000♠Ninth
	Opposition	John Hall	Ellesmere	7000700000000000000♠Seventh
	Independent	Ebenezer Hamlin	Franklin	7000600000000000000♠Sixth
		Arthur Rhodes	Geraldine	7000200000000000000♠Second
	Liberal	Arthur Guinness	Grey	7000300000000000000♠Third
		William Rolleston	Halswell	7000700000000000000♠Seventh
		William Russell	Hawke's Bay	7000500000000000000♠Fifth
	Liberal-Labour	William Tanner	Heathcote	7000100000000000000♠First
		Alfred Newman	Hutt	7000300000000000000♠Third
	Liberal	Richard Reeves	Inangahua	7000300000000000000♠Third
	Liberal-Labour	James Kelly	Invercargill	7000100000000000000♠First
		Richard Moore	Kaiapoi	7000100000000000000♠First
	Opposition	William Buckland	Manukau	7000200000000000000♠Second
	Opposition	Robert Thompson	Marsden	7000200000000000000♠Second
	Liberal	Alexander Hogg	Masterton	7000100000000000000♠First
		George Richardson	Mataura	7000300000000000000♠Third
	Opposition	Scobie Mackenzie	Mount Ida	7000300000000000000♠Third
	Opposition	George Swan	Napier	7000100000000000000♠First
	Opposition	Joseph Harkness	NelsonCity of Nelson	7000200000000000000♠Second
	Liberal	Edward Smith	New Plymouth	7000100000000000000♠First
	Liberal	David Goldie	Newton (unopposed)	7000300000000000000♠Third
	Liberal	Thomas Duncan	Oamaru	7000400000000000000♠Fourth
	Opposition	James Wilson	Palmerston	7000400000000000000♠Fourth
	Independent	Frank Lawry	Parnell	7000200000000000000♠Second
	Liberal-Labour	William Earnshaw	Peninsula	7000100000000000000♠First
		James Mills	Port Chalmers	7000300000000000000♠Third
	Opposition	Douglas Macarthur	Rangitikei	7000300000000000000♠Third
		Alfred Saunders	Selwyn	7000500000000000000♠Fifth
	Liberal	Walter Carncross	Taieri	7000100000000000000♠First
		William Allen	Te Aroha	7000100000000000000♠First
	Liberal	Alfred Cadman	Thames	7000400000000000000♠Fourth
	Independent Liberal	William Hall-Jones	Timaru	7000200000000000000♠Second
	Opposition	Hugh Valentine	Tuapeka	7000200000000000000♠Second
	Opposition	John Bryce	Waikato (unopposed)	7000800000000000000♠Eighth
	Liberal	William Steward	Waimate	7000500000000000000♠Fifth
	Liberal	Charles H Mills	Waimea-Picton	7000100000000000000♠First
	Liberal	William Smith	Waipawa	7000400000000000000♠Fourth
	Opposition	Walter Buchanan	Wairarapa	7000400000000000000♠Fourth
	Liberal-Labour	Lindsay Buick	Wairau	7000100000000000000♠First
	Liberal	John McKenzie	Waitaki	7000400000000000000♠Fourth
	Independent Liberal	Jackson Palmer	Waitemata	7000100000000000000♠First
		George Hutchinson	Waitotara	7000200000000000000♠Second
		Thomas Fergus	Wakatipu (unopposed)	7000400000000000000♠Fourth
	Liberal	James Mackintosh	Wallace	7000100000000000000♠First
	Liberal	John Ballance	Wanganui	7000600000000000000♠Sixth
		John Duthie	WellingtonCity of Wellington	7000100000000000000♠First
	Liberal	George Fisher	WellingtonCity of Wellington	7000300000000000000♠Third
	Liberal	Kennedy Macdonald	WellingtonCity of Wellington	7000100000000000000♠First
	Liberal	Richard Seddon	Westland	7000500000000000000♠Fifth
	Independent	James Carroll	X-01Eastern Maori	7000200000000000000♠Second
	Independent	Sydney Taiwhanga	X-02Northern Maori	7000200000000000000♠Second
	Liberal	Tame Parata	X-03Southern Maori	7000300000000000000♠Third
	Independent	Hoani Taipua	X-04Western Maori	7000300000000000000♠Third

By-elections during 11th Parliament

There were a number of changes during the term of the 11th Parliament.

Electorate and by-election		Date	Incumbent		Cause	Winner
Northern Maori	1891	7 February		Sydney Taiwhanga	Death		Eparaima Te Mutu Kapa
Egmont	1891	17 February		Harry Atkinson	Appointed to Legislative Council		Felix McGuire
Newton	1891	31 March		David Goldie	Resignation		George Grey
Te Aroha	1891	9 July		William Allen	Disallowed on petition		William Fraser
Waikato	1891	6 October		John Bryce	Resignation		Edward Lake
City of Christchurch	1891	9 October		Westby Perceval	Appointed Agent General		Ebenezer Sandford
City of Wellington	1892	15 January		Kennedy Macdonald	Resignation		William McLean
Bruce	1892	4 May		James Thomson	Resignation		James Allen
Rangitikei	1892	8 July		Douglas Macarthur	Death		Robert Bruce
Inangahua	1893	8 June		Richard Reeves	Bankruptcy		Robert Stout
Wanganui	1893	9 June		John Ballance	Death		Archibald Willis
Thames	1893	26 July		Alfred Cadman	Resignation		James McGowan
City of Auckland	1893	4 August		William Rees	Resignation		Alfred Cadman