CHARLESTON
- First bridge opened, 1887.
- Westport became a borough, August, 1873.
The first Member of Parliament for the Buller Electorate, then termed Westland North, returned at the initial election on 9th April, 1868, was Timothy Gallagher, Storekeeper at Addison’s Flat and later of Westport, who defeated George Donne and Zoffany Horne, receiving 609 votes from a total of about 1,000. The result was not gazetted until the first of June following, a delay occasioned by the absence of telegraph lines, and the fact that most mails were conveyed by horseback—and only when creeks were fordable. Not all men had a vote; but only those with property qualification, householders, and holders of Miners’ Rights; hundreds had no voice in the election. Women did not have a vote, nor had they until the election of December, 1893.
The boundaries of the electorate were roughly Mokihinui to Brighton. Gallagher was member from 1868 to June, 1870, when he resigned; T. A. S. Kynnersley from July, 1870, to February, 1871; Eugene J. O’Conor (the “Buller Lion”) from February, 1871, to January, 1876, when he was defeated by Dr. Joseph Henry, of Charleston, who remained member until September, 1879, when he was replaced by J. B. Fisher.
Apparently, in the early days miners did not take kindly to authority. In May of 1869 complaints were rife, and letters appeared in the newspaper at Westport, concerning the “officiousness” of officials who demanded that hats be removed by persons entering the Warden’s Office. In consequence, the Warden posted upon the door the following notice: “For the satisfaction of persons who are unwilling to take off their hats in this office, it is hereby notified that none but gentlemen are expected to do so.—Joseph Giles.”
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