page_title: John Perry Robinson
section_title: Political career
hierarchical_section_title: John Perry Robinson / Political career
caption_attribution_description: English: Photo of John Perry Robinson (1810/11? – 1865), second Superintendent of Nelson Province, by an unknown photographer.
context_page_description: John Perry Robinson was the second Superintendent of the Nelson Province in New Zealand. His election came as a surprise, but he proved so popular that he won two subsequent elections with comfortable majorities. He remained Superintendent until his accidental drowning on the bar of the Buller River.
context_section_description: In April 1850, Robinson chaired a meeting of labourers, when it was decided to approach the New Zealand Company for its unfulfilled promises. The issues were lack of work and difficult working conditions. He followed this up in 1852 with a letter to Governor George Grey, and in 1854 brought the issue to the attention of the Government.
  While living in Golden Bay, Robinson was urged to stand for election to the Nelson Provincial Council in 1855 as the representative in the Massacre Bay electorate. At the nomination meeting, the election was contested by Robinson and W. R. Nicholson. A show of hands indicated a majority for Robinson, who was thus declared duly elected.
  Edward Stafford, the first Superintendent of Nelson, resigned from the position in September 1856. Robinson and David Monro contested the superintendency on class issues. Monro had represented Waimea in the 1st Parliament and thus had a high political profile. Robinson represented 'the man of small means' (he has been described as a believer in a "society of small-property owners"), whereas Monro represented the wealthier colonists. An history of Nelson published in 1892 described the election campaign as "the keenest, best fought, political battle ever seen in Nelson". On voting day (31 October 1856), the turnout was low. Many of Monro's supporters stayed away, as Robinson was never expected to be able to win. Robinson and Monro received 425 and 409 votes, respectively. With a majority of 16 votes, Robinson was declared elected.
  The 1857 superintendency was contested by Robinson against John Waring Saxton. Saxton had been representing Waimea South on the Provincial Council since 1853. The election on Thursday, 8 October 1857 resulted in 681 and 451 votes for Robinson and Saxton, respectively. With a majority of 230 votes, Robinson was re-elected.
  The next election was held in December 1861. Robinson and John Barnicoat contested it. Barnicoat was an early settler, having arrived in Nelson in 1842. He was elected to the first Provincial Council in 1853 and later in life (1883–1902) served on the Legislative Council. The election was held on Monday, 23 December 1861 resulted in a large majority of 443 votes for Robinson, who received 685 votes, while Barnicoat got 242 votes.
  Robinson thus served three terms as Superintendent, being elected in 1856, 1857 and 1861, with his majority increasing at each succeeding election.
  During his second term, Robinson laid the foundation stone for the Provincial Government Buildings in Nelson on 26 August 1859.
caption: Photo of John Perry Robinson
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "200", "Image YResolution": "200", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop 7.0", "Image DateTime": "2007:10:30 13:06:00", "Image ExifOffset": "156", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "294", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "2929", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "290", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "445"}