Māori Representation Act

The New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 did not, in theory, define the right to vote by race, but voters had to be men aged 21 or over who held property of a certain value. Māori could qualify only through land held under individual title granted by the Crown, not through communally owned land, and most Māori land was owned communally. About 100 Māori voted in the first general election in 1853, out of a total electorate of 5849. In 1859 the British Crown Law Office ruled that Māori could not register without individual Crown title. Most settlers welcomed this. Te Ara notes that in 1852 Māori greatly outnumbered the colonists, and that exclusion was often justified on the grounds that Māori were not yet 'civilised' enough to vote. In the 1850s and 1860s, NZHistory adds, few Māori were interested in the 'Pakeha Parliament'; they preferred to deal directly with the governor and the Queen or, like the Kīngitanga (Māori King movement), to build their own political structures.

The wars of the 1860s turned attention to Māori political rights. Donald McLean, the Māori-speaking MP for Napier, called representation 'a bare act of justice' that would help keep the peace; others wanted to reward tribes that had fought on the Crown's side. Special seats created for gold miners earlier in the decade offered a model, and the North–South balance of the House shaped the deal: three Māori seats went to the North Island and one to the whole South Island. McLean's private member's bill became the Maori Representation Act on 10 October 1867. It created four Māori electoral districts, Northern, Eastern, Western and Southern, laid over the existing electorates. Every Māori man aged 21 or over, including 'half-castes' (people with one Māori and one European parent), could vote and stand without any property qualification, unless convicted of 'treason felony or infamous offence', which Te Ara says had the effect of excluding rebels. The Act called itself a 'temporary provision' and was to last five years. Māori who held individual freehold could also vote in European electorates, a dual vote that lasted until 1893; NZHistory calls them a small number, Te Ara 'several thousand'.

The first Māori elections were held in 1868, and few Māori took part. Frederick Nene Russell (Northern Māori) and Mete Kīngi Te Rangi Paetahi (Western Māori) were elected unopposed, Tāreha Te Moananui won Eastern Māori by a single vote, and John Patterson won a three-way contest in Southern Māori. The Ngāpuhi prophet Āperahama Taonui protested: 'What are these four to do among so many Pakehas; where will their voices be as compared with the Pakeha voices?' He and other Ngāpuhi chiefs wanted the member chosen through tribal consultation, and they refused to take part in the ballot. Tāreha was the first of the four to speak in the House. He spoke in Māori through an interpreter organised at the last minute. Te Ara writes that the language barrier and their minority position meant the early Māori members struggled to make an impact.

Te Ara and NZHistory both say the Act gave Māori men universal suffrage 12 years before all European men gained the vote in 1879; NZHistory's Treaty timeline puts the gap at 11 years. The share of seats was far smaller than the population. In 1867 about 250,000 Europeans had 72 seats and about 50,000 Māori had four, when equal representation would have meant 14 to 16. Officials expected the seats to disappear once Māori land was held in individual title (see The Native Land Court is established). The arrangement was extended in 1872 and made permanent in 1876. The Māori seats were also neglected officially: the secret ballot came to European seats in 1870 but not to Māori seats until 1938. The number stayed at four for 129 years, until a fifth seat was added for the first MMP election in 1996, and there were seven by 2002. Te Ara describes the seats as one of the most distinctive, and contentious, features of New Zealand's electoral system.