# 1904 in New Zealand

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

## Incumbents
### 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

## Sport
### 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

### Horse racing
#### 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

* 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.
Category:1904 births

## 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.
Category:1904 deaths