Regal and viceregal
Head of State – Queen VictoriaGovernor – Sir George GreyGovernment and law
The 3rd Parliament continues.
Speaker of the House – David MonroPremier – Alfred Domett replaces William Fox on 6 August after Fox loses a vote of no-confidence.Minister of Finance – Reader Wood loses the post on 6 August with the fall of the Fox government, and is replaced by Dillon Bell, but is reappointed just 15 days later on 21 August.Chief Justice – Hon Sir George Arney (he is knighted during the year)27 January – The Auckland Register, which started in 1857, ceases publication.1 July – The first telegraph transmission in New Zealand is made from Lyttelton Post Office to Christchurch.7 July – Parliament meets in Wellington for the first time. (see also 1863; 1865)15 August – Horatio Hartley and Christopher Reilly arrive in Dunedin with 87 pounds of gold from the banks of the Clutha river in Cromwell George leading to the Dunstan Gold Rush.12 November – The Invercargill Times publishes its first issue. It changed its name to The Southland Times two years later, and became a daily in 1875. It continues to publish today.Otago Gold Rush (1861-63)The Nelson Intelligence is a short-lived newspaper in the Nelson, New Zealand area.The second inter-provincial game is played. Nelson defeat Wellington.
New Zealand Derby — EmmelineThe Auckland club is now playing on its own green.
1 January — The first recorded rowing regatta takes place on Lyttelton Harbour.
Later in the year the Canterbury Rowing Club is formed to row on the Avon River in Christchurch.
Ballinger Belt – Private Holt (Nelson)
15 June: George Helmore, rugby union player21 October: John Findlay, politicianAlbert Pitt, politician16 May: Edward Gibbon Wakefield, a driving force behind New Zealand's colonisation5 June: Charles Kettle, surveyor of DunedinOctober: Iwikau Te Heuheu Tukino III, tribal leader