Chairman of Committees (New Zealand House of Representatives)

The Chairman of Committees was an elected position of the New Zealand House of Representatives. The role existed between 1854 and 1992. The roles of the Chairman of Committees were to deputise for the Speaker, and to chair the House when it was in committee. The role is now carried out by the Deputy Speaker. The role of Chairman of Committees also existed for the Legislative Council.

Establishment

The position was established during the first session of the 1st New Zealand Parliament. Parliament first convened on 24 May 1854, and on 21 June of that year, Auckland lawyer Frederick Merriman was elected as its first Chairman of Committees. The role also existed for the Legislative Council, was established in 1865 and first held by Mathew Richmond.

Role

The chief role of the Chairman of Committees was to chair the House when it was in committee (i.e., considering a bill at committee stage) or preside in the absence of the Speaker or when the Speaker so requested. These arrangements were based on those of the House of Commons of the United Kingdom.

The Chairman of Committees ceased to hold office on the dissolution of Parliament, but was remunerated until the next Parliament first met, when it then had a chance to elect a new Chairman.

Until 1992, the Chairman of Committees was known as the Deputy Speaker only when presiding over the House. That year, the position of Deputy Speaker was made official under the Standing Orders, and the role of Chairman of Committees was discontinued. The first Deputy Speaker was appointed on 10 November 1992.

Office holders

The following is a list of Chairmen of Committees of the House of Representatives:

Key

  Independent     Liberal     Reform     United     Labour     National  

No.		Name	Portrait	Term start and end dates		Parliament
	1	Frederick Merriman	75px	21 June 1854	15 September 1855	1st
	2	Hugh Carleton	75px	17 April 1856	5 November 1860	2nd
				11 June 1861	27 January 1866	3rd
				4 July 1866	30 December 1870	4th
	3	Maurice O'Rorke1		16 August 1871	23 October 1872	5th
	4	Arthur Seymour	75px	16 July 1873	14 May 1875
	(3)	Maurice O'Rorke		21 July 1875	6 December 1875
				28 June 1876	11 July 1879	6th
	(4)	Arthur Seymour	75px	16 July 1879	15 August 1879
				26 September 1879	8 November 1881	7th
	5	Ebenezer Hamlin	75px	30 May 1882	27 June 1884	8th
				5 September 1884	15 July 1887	9th
				13 October 1887	3 October 1890	10th
	6	Westby Perceval	75px	23 June 1891	15 September 1891	11th
	7	William Lee Rees	75px	18 September 1891	11 July 1893
	8	Arthur Guinness1	75px	13 July 1893	8 November 1893
				10 July 1894	14 November 1896	12th
				9 April 1897	15 November 1899	13th
				3 July 1900	5 November 1902	14th
	9	John A. Millar	75px	2 July 1903	15 November 1905	15th
	10	Roderick McKenzie	75px	31 August 1906	29 October 1908	16th
	11	Thomas Wilford	75px	12 June 1909	8 July 1910	17th
	12	James Colvin	75px	23 August 1910	20 November 1911
	13	Frederic Lang1		2 August 1912	26 June 1913	18th
	14	Alexander Malcolm		4 July 1913	20 November 1914
				7 July 1915	27 November 1919	19th
				15 July 1920	30 November 1922	20th
	15	Alexander Young	75px	24 July 1923	14 October 1925	21st
	16	Frank Hockly		2 July 1926	18 October 1928	22nd
	17	Sydney George Smith	75px	11 December 1928	28 May 1930	23rd
	18	William Bodkin	75px	27 June 1930	27 October 1931
	(17)	Sydney George Smith	75px	27 October 1931	12 November 1931
				26 February 1932	12 February 1935	24th
	19	Jimmy Nash	75px	13 February 1935	1 November 1935
	20	Ted Howard	75px	1 April 1936	20 September 1938	25th
	21	Robert McKeen1	75px	29 June 1939	30 August 1943	26th
				1 March 1944	4 November 1946	27th
	22	Clyde Carr	75px	24 June 1947	3 November 1949	28th
	23	Cyril Harker		29 June 1950	27 July 1951	29th
				28 September 1951	5 October 1954	30th
				30 March 1955	29 October 1957	31st
	24	Reginald Keeling	75px	22 January 1958	31 October 1960	32nd
	25	Roy Jack1		23 June 1961	29 October 1963	33rd
				12 June 1964	25 October 1966	34th
	26	John Hannibal George		28 April 1967	28 October 1969	35th
	27	Alfred E. Allen1		13 March 1970	7 June 1972	36th
	28	Richard Harrison1		8 June 1972	26 October 1972
	29	Ron Bailey	75px	16 February 1973	10 September 1974	37th
	30	Jonathan Hunt1	75px	17 September 1974	30 October 1975
	(28)	Richard Harrison1		24 June 1976	9 May 1978	38th
	31	Jack Luxton		12 May 1978	26 October 1978
				18 May 1979	29 October 1981	39th
				8 April 1982	15 June 1984	40th
	32	John Terris	75px	17 August 1984	1987	41st
				1988	10 September 1990	42nd
	31	Jim Gerard		1990	1992	43rd

¹ Also served as Speaker

References

• Scholefield 1950, p. 68.
• Scholefield 1950, p. 151.
• Scholefield 1950, p. 89.
• McLintock 1966.
• Wilson 1985, pp. 251–252.
• Refer to the talk page for Chairmen post–1984