1896 in New Zealand

Incumbents

Regal and viceregal

• Head of State – Queen Victoria
• Governor – David Boyle, 7th Earl of Glasgow

Government and law

• Speaker of the House – Sir Maurice O'Rorke
• Prime Minister – Richard Seddon
• Minister of Finance – Joseph Ward resigns on 16 June and is replaced by Richard Seddon
• Chief Justice – Hon Sir James Prendergast
• The Female Law Practitioners Act was passed in 1896, and Ethel Benjamin who had graduated in law from the University of Otago in 1896 was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealand in 1897.

Parliamentary opposition

Main centre leaders

• Mayor of Auckland – James Holland followed by Abraham Boardman
• Mayor of Christchurch – Walter Cooper followed by Harry Joseph Beswick
• Mayor of Dunedin – Nathaniel Wales followed by Hugh Gourley
• Mayor of Wellington – George Fisher

Events

• 26 March: Brunner Mine disaster; 65 miners killed in explosion
• 13 April: National Council of Women of New Zealand is founded, with Kate Sheppard as its first president.
• 30 September: The government increases the New Zealand head tax to £100 per head from £10, and tightens the other restriction to only one Chinese immigrant for every 200 tons of cargo from 100 tons.
• 13 October: First public screening of a motion picture in New Zealand, in Auckland.
• 4 December: 1896 New Zealand general election.

• Census measures national population as 743,214.

Media

• The Waikato Argus starts publication. The newspaper runs until 1915.
• The Gisborne Times is founded. It became a daily in 1901, and continued to publish until being bought out by The Poverty Bay Herald in 1938.
• July: The Waikato Times and Waikato Advocate merge, and the former moves to daily publication.

Sport

Athletics

• 100 yards – E. Robinson
• 250 yards – W. Kingston
• 440 yards – W. Low
• 880 yards – W. Low
• 1 mile – W. Bennett
• 3 miles – W. Bennett
• 120 yards hurdles – W. Martin
• 440 yards hurdles – J. Thomas Roberts
• Long jump – Leonard Cuff
• High jump – P. Brown
• Pole vault – tie R. Hunter and H. Kingsley
• Shot put – W. Rhodes
• Hammer throw – P. Brown

Chess

Golf

• Men's national amateur champion – M.S. Todd
• Women's national amateur champion – L. Wilford

Horse racing

Harness racing

• Auckland Trotting Cup is won by Fibre

Thoroughbred racing

• New Zealand Cup – Lady Zetland
• New Zealand Derby – Uniform
• Auckland Cup – Nestor
• Wellington Cup – Brooklet

Season leaders (1895/96)

• Top New Zealand stakes earner – Euroclydon
• Leading flat jockey – C. Jenkins

Lawn Bowls

Polo

• Savile Cup winners – Manawatu

Rowing

• Single sculls – C. Chapman
• Double sculls – Wairewa, Little River
• Coxless pairs – Canterbury
• Coxed fours – Queen's Dr, Port Chalmers

Shooting

Soccer

• Auckland: Auckland United
• Otago: Roslyn Dunedin
• Wellington: Wellington Swifts

Swimming

Tennis

• Men's singles – H. Parker
• Women's singles – Kathleen Nunneley
• Men's doubles – Richard Harman and D. Collins
• Women's doubles – Kathleen Nunneley and T. Trimmell

Births

• 15 June : Archie Fisher, painter.
• 7 July: Harold Beamish, World War I flying ace.

Deaths

• 18 May: Daniel Pollen, politician
• 2 August: James FitzGerald, politician.
• 28 August: James Hume, medical doctor.