Universal suffrage
The expectation was that Māori landholdings would be converted to individual title within the next few years. At that point, the franchise was to revert to the normal rules based on property ownership. As such, the preamble of the Act made reference to 'temporary provisions' and the Act was to be in place for only five years. History has shown us, however, that Māori land stayed in communal ownership, and the franchise conditions for Māori electorates were extended in 1872 by another five years, and in 1876, the electorates were made permanent. It is important to note that male Māori, due to their practical exclusion from the political process, received universal suffrage twelve years before European men. Universal suffrage for non-Māori men over 21 years was introduced for the 1879 general elections. It is difficult to imagine these days how radical it was back then to grant universal suffrage to Māori men. It helped that there had been precedents to this, first in the Pensioner Settlements electorate (created for the 1st Parliament in 1853), and then for the two gold fields electorates (Goldfields electorate in 1863 and Goldfields Towns electorate in 1866).