1868 in New Zealand

The following lists events that happened during 1868 in New Zealand.

Regal and viceregal

 * Head of State — Queen Victoria
 * Governor — Sir George Grey is recalled by the British government and is replaced on 5 February by Sir George Ferguson Bowen.

Government and law
The 4th Parliament continues. The first four Māori MPs are elected in 1868.


 * Speaker of the House — Sir David Monro
 * Premier — Edward Stafford
 * Minister of Finance — William Fitzherbert
 * Chief Justice — Hon Sir George Arney

Main centre leaders

 * Mayor of Christchurch — William Wilson
 * Mayor of Dunedin — John Hyde Harris followed by Thomas Birch

Events

 * 1–6 February: The Great storm of 1868 sweeps across the country causing major damage and loss of life.
 * 1 June: The New Zealand Advertiser, which had been absorbed into the New Zealand Times in 1867, is revived. It ceases publication for good in December.
 * 13 August: A tsunami caused by the 1868 Arica earthquake in South America causes the only fatalities recorded from tsunamis in New Zealand, with about twenty people swept away in the Chatham Islands.
 * 24 August: Wanganui Horticultural Society established.
 * Nelson Football Club founded.
 * 2 November: New Zealand Mean Time adopted throughout the colony; New Zealand may be the first country to have adopted a standard time throughout the country.
 * Coromandel Gold Rush (1867–68)

Cricket
The Basin Reserve is first used for cricket.

Major race winners

 * New Zealand Cup: Flying Jib
 * New Zealand Derby: Flying Jib

Shooting
Ballinger Belt: Sergeant Taylor (Otago)

Births

 * 23 February Sir Andrew Hamilton Russell, soldier.
 * 19 March: Alfred Ransom, politician and cabinet minister.

Full date unknown

 * Asajiro Noda, seaman, cashier, gum-digger and farmer (d. 1942)

Deaths

 * 9 October: George Macfarlan, politician