1904 in New Zealand

Incumbents

Regal and viceregal

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

Government

• Speaker of the House – Arthur Guinness
• Prime Minister – Richard Seddon
• Minister of Finance – Richard Seddon
• Chief Justice – Sir Robert Stout

Parliamentary opposition

• Leader of the Opposition – William Massey,.

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

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

• Heavyweight – J. Griffin
• Middleweight – J. Griffin
• Lightweight – T. Rickards
• Featherweight – J. Watson
• Bantamweight – J. Gosling

Chess

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

Golf

• Men: A.H. Fisher
• 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 and Otago.

Soccer

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

Births

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

Deaths

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