1904 in New Zealand

The following lists events that happened during 1904 in New Zealand.

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
The 15th New Zealand Parliament continued. In government was the Liberal Party.
 * Speaker of the House – Arthur Guinness (Liberal)
 * Prime Minister – Richard Seddon
 * Minister of Finance – Richard Seddon
 * Chief Justice – Sir Robert Stout

Parliamentary opposition

 * Leader of the Opposition – William Massey, (Independent).

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
See 1904 in art, 1904 in literature, Category:1904 books

Music
See: 1904 in music

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
National amateur champions
 * Heavyweight – J. Griffin (Greymouth)
 * Middleweight – J. Griffin (Greymouth)
 * Lightweight – T. Rickards (Christchurch)
 * Featherweight – J. Watson (Christchurch)
 * Bantamweight – J. Gosling (Wellington)

Chess

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

Golf
The 12th National Amateur Championships were held in Otago
 * Men: A.H. Fisher (Otago)
 * Women: Miss E. Lewis

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 (6–3) and Otago (15–13).

Soccer
Provincial league champions:
 * Auckland:	Auckland Corinthians
 * Otago:	Northern
 * Southland:	Nightcaps
 * Taranaki:	New Plymouth
 * Wellington:	Diamond Wellington

Births
Category:1904 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.
 * 24 December: Thomas O'Halloran, Australian Rules footballer.

Deaths
Category:1904 deaths
 * 5 January: William Walker, politician and speaker of the Legislative Council (b. 1837).
 * 11 February: George Lumsden, politician (b. 1815).
 * 22 February: James Nairn, painter (b. 1859)
 * 16 April: Charles Edward Haughton, politician (b. 1827).
 * 2 October: Thomas Ellison, rugby player (b. c1867).
 * 11 December: Octavius Hadfield, Anglican Primate of New Zealand (b. 1814).
 * Tamati Ngakaho, a Ngāti Porou carver.