1857: Superintendent William Moorhouse Elected
October 22, 2020
By AHNZ
On 27 October, 1857, Charles Bowen was in a fury with his fellow Lyttleton Times editor. The contest was on for who would be the second Superintendent of Canterbury Province, James Fitzgerald having moved on. The 1857 contest was between William Sefton Moorhouse and Joseph Brittan.
The two contenders were nominated at the Town Hall in Christchurch where the pair gave dull speeches…”Nomination of Superintendent. Heard the hustings speeches of the two candidates. There was not the ghost of a joke and scarcely the shadow of an idea in either speech. …The show of hands was for Moorhouse, the announcement of which fact was greeted by a burst of music from a drum and two trumpets in the employ of that gentleman and by the display of several large calico flags of his colours. The whole thing very flat,” wrote eyewitness Christopher Richmond in his letters.
The other Lyttleton Times editor, Crosbie Ward, had apparently been writing the ‘wrong’ thing about the election so Bowen set off from Christchurch to ‘have some words’.
Bowen walked over Bridle Path in dead of night to Lyttelton, “knocked up” his fellow editor and inspected the newspaper’s next edition. Bowen siezed and destroyed the whole of the issue printed ready for publication the next day!
“Dined at the Club. Bowen in a scot because some personal epigrams upon the candidates in the election for Superintendent and their supporters had been inserted in the Lyttelton Times (which Bowen edits) by his collaborates: Mr Crosbie Ward. Bowen walked over at dead of night to Lyttelton, knocked up Ward and seized and destroyed the whole of the issue of the paper, which was printed ready for publication on the morrow.”- Christopher Richmond, 27 October
“As political war gripped the city with the upcoming Superintendent elections in 1857, partner Bowen was so worried about what Crosbie had written, he destroyed – without Ward’s knowledge – a whole issue of the ‘Lyttelton Times’ fearing serious backlash if printed.”- DISCO
Considering that Bowen was also the returning officer for the election it’s hard not to think poorly of this action. Conflict of interest! Political control of the free press! A few days later, William Moorhouse (image right) became Canterbury’s second Superintendent.
Somehow the Lyttleton Times did make it to print on Wedesday 28th despite the disruption, saying “We had prepared for this issue a careful statement of the candidates…but we are compelled to withdraw it for want of room, and to leave it for Saturday’s publication.” This of course was lies. It was not for lack of space but due to the Bowen’s fury that the voters missed out on the biography. Nor did it appear in Saturday’s edition (I looked for it.)
“The new Superintendent will-be declared duly elected at noon to-day. Mr. Moorhouse will then be Superintendent of- Canterbury¹”- The Lyttelton Times, 4 November, 1857
I’ve always found Bowen to be a loathsome man. The worst thing he ever did was as Minister of Justice in the New Zealand Government. He is the man behind the Education Act (1877) which is surely the most horrible thing The State ever did to us. This suck-up Irish thug hurt generations of New Zealanders by delivering education into the hands of government.
As for Moorhouse, he would go on to cause all sorts of trouble in his two terms heading the Canterbury Provincial Council. Or, three terms if you count his use of Samuel Bealey’s term as his puppet organisation, finally countered by Superintendent Rolleston. The tales of these crimes I’ll save for another time.
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1 This date is contrary to other sources. Wikipedia, for example, says Moorehouse was in office from 24 October but this is clearly an error.
Ref. Christopher Richmond, letter to Emily E. Richmond; The Richmond-Atkinson Papers, Scholefield (1961); Early New Zealand Books Collection, The University of Auckland Libraries and Learning Services
Image ref. Bowen, Alexander Turnbull Library
Image ref. First Christchurch Town Hall; wiki
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