1865: Superintendent Nelson Missing to this Day
January 27, 2022
By AHNZ
On 28 January, 1865, the Superintendent of Nelson Province was drowned in office.
John Perry Robinson had completed a visit to Greymouth and now tried to make another stop, going ashore in a boat at the Buller River to stay a while and explore. The boat hit the bar, killing 3 crewman along with the Super himself.
His body was never found. The steamship Wallaby had to move on, one Superintendent short.
Robinson was Nelson’s second superintendent (1856-65) after the famous Edward Stafford. According to Stafford’s biographer he “..had offended irrevocably far too many people, most significantly the working men and liberals who had hitherto backed Stafford and who now put up Robinson.” Robinson’s was a common man ticket vs the other faction which represented the more well-to-do Nelsonians, the large pastoral run-holders. He legislated accordingly.
By March 1865 Nelson had its 3rd Superintendent in the form of Alfred Saunders. He had been a popular figure for attacking a judge and being sent to prison for it. His cause was so appreciated though that Saunders was re-elected to his Provincial Council seat while still in prison! But Saunders did not serve long.
Nelson’s final Super was Oswald Curtis (1867-77) who appears to be a return to the well-to-do Nelsonian faction. Robinson’s drowning was their gain.
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image ref. Robinson, Wiki
Ref. p107, Edward Stafford, New Zealand’s First Statesman, Edmund Bohan (1994)
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