Regal and viceregal
Head of State — Queen Victoria
Governor — David Boyle, 7th Earl of Glasgow
Government and law
The Liberal Party is re-elected and begins the 13th New Zealand Parliament.
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.
Leader of the Opposition — William Russell.
Main centre leaders
Mayor of Auckland — James Holland followed by Abraham Boardman
Mayor of Christchurch — Walter Cooper followed by Henry Joseph Beswick
Mayor of Dunedin — Nathaniel Young Armstrong Wales followed by Hugh Gourley
Mayor of Wellington — George Fisher
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.
13 October: First public screening of a motion picture in New Zealand, in Auckland.
4 December: New Zealand general election, 1896.
Undated
Census measures national population as 743,214.
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.
National Champions, Men
100 yards — E. Robinson (Canterbury)
250 yards — W. Kingston (Otago)
440 yards — W. Low (Otago)
880 yards — W. Low (Otago)
1 mile — W. Bennett (Otago)
3 miles — W. Bennett (Otago)
120 yards hurdles — W. Martin (Auckland)
440 yards hurdles — J. Thomas Roberts (Auckland)
Long jump — Leonard Cuff (Canterbury)
High jump — P. Brown (Canterbury)
Pole vault — tie R. Hunter (Hawkes Bay) and H. Kingsley (Wanganui)
Shot put — W. Rhodes (Wellington)
Hammer throw — P. Brown (Canterbury)
National Champion: W. Meldrum of Rangitikei.
Men's national amateur champion — M.S. Todd (Otago)
Women's national amateur champion — L. Wilford (Hutt)
Auckland Trotting Cup (over 3 miles) is won by Fibre
New Zealand Cup — Lady Zetland
New Zealand Derby — Uniform
Auckland Cup — Nestor
Wellington Cup — Brooklet
Top New Zealand stakes earner — Euroclydon
Leading flat jockey — C. Jenkins
National Champions There are no national championships this year.
Savile Cup winners — Manawatu
National Champions (Men)
Single sculls — C. Chapman (Wairewa)
Double sculls — Wairewa, Little River
Coxless pairs — Canterbury
Coxed fours — Queen’s Dr, Port Chalmers
Ballinger Belt — Sergeant Wakelyn (Honorary Reserve Corps, Christchurch)
Provincial league champions:
Auckland: Auckland United
Otago: Roslyn Dunedin
Wellington: Wellington Swifts
Not held
National Championships
Men's singles — H. Parker
Women's singles — Kathleen Nunneley
Men's doubles — R. Harman and D. Collins
Women's doubles — Kathleen Nunneley and T. Trimmell
15 June (in England): Archie Fisher, painter.
