James FitzGerald (New Zealand politician)

In November 1852, a deputation put a requisition to John Robert Godley, asking him to allow himself to be nominated for the first election for Superintendent of the Canterbury Province; Fitzgerald was part of that deputation. Godley declined,[7] and in July 1853, FitzGerald, Colonel James Campbell and Henry Tancred contested the election. They received 136, 94 and 89 votes, respectively. Campbell protested about the election, as the returning officer had indicated to the voters that he could not be elected, as he had been struck off the electoral list.[8][9] But the protest came to nothing, and Fitzgerald was declared the first Superintendent of the Canterbury Province.[10]

A major part of his work as Superintendent was an attempt to increase Canterbury's self-government, drawing the province's "cabinet" from the elected Council rather than appointing it himself. His goal was to make the province's executive responsible to its legislature. He remained Superintendent until he retired on 28 September 1857.[11]

When the 1st New Zealand Parliament was called, FitzGerald was elected MP for the Lyttelton electorate, and represented it from 1853 to 1857, when he resigned during the term of the 2nd New Zealand Parliament. Despite his election to Parliament, he chose to retain the Superintendency of Canterbury, a decision criticised by some. In Parliament, FitzGerald argued strongly in favour of "responsible government" once again, attempting to make New Zealand's executive responsible to Parliament rather than the Governor. The acting Governor, Robert Wynyard, eventually agreed to appoint FitzGerald, Henry Sewell, Frederick Weld, and Thomas Bartley to the Executive Council. They were later joined briefly by Dillon Bell, a member of the Legislative Council.

FitzGerald was chosen to lead this delegation, which lasted from 14 June 1854 to 2 August 1854, and is therefore sometimes said to have headed New Zealand's first "cabinet". He had no formal title, however, and did not have sufficient powers to actually govern. As such, most historians do not consider him to have been prime minister as the term is used today. FitzGerald accepted the position in the belief that full authority would later be transferred from Wynyard's appointees to the new cabinet, and was consequently angry when Wynyard claimed that royal assent (which had not been given) was necessary for this change to occur. Seven weeks after their appointment, FitzGerald's cabinet resigned, and was replaced by another cabinet of four persons headed by Thomas Forsaith.

Later, when the 2nd New Zealand Parliament managed to obtain the power that had eluded the 1st, FitzGerald was too ill to attend. Instead, Henry Sewell (one of FitzGerald's colleagues in the first attempted cabinet) was asked to form a government. In 1857, FitzGerald resigned from Parliament on the advice of his doctors, and also decided not to seek re-election as provincial superintendent.[3] Instead, he left Lyttelton on 30 September on the James Gibson for Sydney[12] and returned to England, where he resumed his work for the Canterbury Association. During his time in England, he was offered governorships of both British Columbia and Queensland, but his ill health prevented him from accepting.

Statue of FitzGerald, Cashel St, Christchurch

By 1860, he had returned to New Zealand on the Matoaka, and shortly afterwards won election to the Canterbury Provincial Council; first for the Akaroa electorate in May 1861, and then in the Town of Akaroa electorate from September 1861 to December 1862.[13] He also founded The Press, which remains Christchurch's largest newspaper today. In 1862, he returned to national politics. The resignation of Thomas Rowley in the Ellesmere electorate caused the 12 July 1862 Ellesmere by-election, which FitzGerald won. He represented the electorate until the end of the parliamentary term in 1866, and then successfully stood in the City of Christchurch electorate in 1866 (elected unopposed[14]), from which he resigned the following year.[15]

In Parliament, he strongly advocated peaceful negotiations in the New Zealand Wars, supporting Māori rights and condemning land confiscation as an "enormous crime". He also campaigned to have primary responsibility for relations with the Māori transferred from the Governor to Parliament. Other suggestions he made included reserving a third of Parliament for Māori politicians, recognition of the Māori King movement, and the withdrawal of British troops from New Zealand. FitzGerald strongly believed that if Māori and colonists did not make a deliberate attempt at reconciliation, one or both would eventually be destroyed.

On 5 November 1863, he attempted to convince Parliament that the New Zealand Settlements Act 1863 was contrary to the Treaty of Waitangi "which distinctly guaranteed and pledged the faith of the Crown that the lands of the natives shall not be taken from them except by the ordinary process of law—that is, taken within the meaning of the Treaty." He also stated that in his opinion, the purpose of the Act was to acquire Maori land.[16]

In 1865, he had a two-month term as Minister of Native Affairs in the government of Frederick Weld (another colleague from the first provisional cabinet), but did not succeed in implementing many of his policies.

His brother Gerard represented the Hokitika electorate for one term in Parliament.[17]