← 1895 1894 1893 1896 in New Zealand → 1897 1898 1899
Decades:	1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s
See also:	History of New Zealand List of years in New Zealand Timeline of New Zealand history

The following lists events that happened during 1896 in New Zealand.

Incumbents

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.

Parliamentary opposition

Leader of the Opposition – William Russell.^[1]

Main centre leaders

• Mayor of Auckland – James Holland followed by Abraham Boardman
• Mayor of Christchurch – Walter Cooper followed by Harry Joseph Beswick
• Mayor of Dunedin – Nathaniel Wales followed by Hugh Gourley
• Mayor of Wellington – George Fisher

Events

• 26 March: Brunner Mine disaster; 65 miners killed in explosion^[2]
• 13 April: National Council of Women of New Zealand is founded, with Kate Sheppard as its first president.^[3]
• 30 September: The government increases the New Zealand head tax to £100 per head from £10, and tightens the other restriction to only one Chinese immigrant for every 200 tons of cargo from 100 tons.
• 13 October: First public screening of a motion picture in New Zealand, in Auckland.^[4]
• 4 December: 1896 New Zealand general election.

Undated

• Census measures national population as 743,214.

Arts and literature

Music

Media

• The Waikato Argus starts publication. The newspaper runs until 1915.^[5]
• The Gisborne Times is founded.^[6] It became a daily in 1901, and continued to publish until being bought out by The Poverty Bay Herald in 1938.^[7]
• July: The Waikato Times and Waikato Advocate merge, and the former moves to daily publication.^[8]

Sport

Athletics

National Champions, Men^[9]

• 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)

Chess

National Champion: W. Meldrum of Rangitikei.^[10]

Cricket

Golf

• Men's national amateur champion – M.S. Todd (Otago)^[11]
• Women's national amateur champion – L. Wilford (Hutt)

Horse racing

Harness racing

• Auckland Trotting Cup (over 3 miles) is won by Fibre^[12]

Thoroughbred racing

• New Zealand Cup – Lady Zetland
• New Zealand Derby – Uniform
• Auckland Cup – Nestor
• Wellington Cup – Brooklet

Season leaders (1895/96)

• Top New Zealand stakes earner – Euroclydon
• Leading flat jockey – C. Jenkins

Lawn Bowls

National Champions^[13] There are no national championships this year.

Polo

• Savile Cup winners – Manawatu

Rowing

National Champions (Men)

• Single sculls – C. Chapman (Wairewa)
• Double sculls – Wairewa, Little River
• Coxless pairs – Canterbury
• Coxed fours – Queen's Dr, Port Chalmers

Rugby union

Shooting

Ballinger Belt – Sergeant Wakelyn (Honorary Reserve Corps, Christchurch)

Soccer

Provincial league champions:^[14]

• Auckland: Auckland United
• Otago: Roslyn Dunedin
• Wellington: Wellington Swifts

Swimming

Not held

Tennis

National Championships

• Men's singles – H. Parker
• Women's singles – Kathleen Nunneley
• Men's doubles – Richard Harman and D. Collins
• Women's doubles – Kathleen Nunneley and T. Trimmell

Births

• 15 June (in England): Archie Fisher, painter.^[15]

Deaths

• 18 May: Daniel Pollen, politician (born 1813)
• 2 August: James FitzGerald, politician (born 1818).
• 28 August:James Hume, medical doctor (born 1823).