John Hall (New Zealand politician)

Infobox_Officeholder
name=Hon. John Hall
order=12^th Premier of New Zealand


monarch=Victoria
term_start=8 October 1879
term_end=21 April 1882
predecessor=George Grey (1879)
successor=Frederick Whitaker (1882)
birth_date=birth date|1824|12|18|df=y
birth_place=Kingston upon Hull, ENG
death_date=death date and age|1907|6|25|1824|12|18|df=y
death_place=Christchurch, NZL
spouse=
party=None, leaning conservative
constituency=Heathcote, City of Christchurch
religion=

Sir John Hall (c. December 18, 1824 – June 25, 1907) was born in Kingston upon Hull, England, and later became the Prime Minister of New Zealand.

Migration to New Zealand

After reading a book on sheep farming, Hall emigrated to New Zealand, on "Samarang", arriving July 31, 1852. He developed one of the first large scale sheep farming runs in Canterbury.

In 1853, he was elected to the Canterbury Provincial Council. He would later rise through the ranks of magistrate, town council Chairman (effectively mayor), and Postmaster-General.

Premier of New Zealand

On October 8, 1879, he was appointed the Premier of New Zealand, where his ministry carried out reforms of the male suffrage (extending voting rights) and dealt with a conflict with Māori at Parihaka, although poor health caused him to resign the position less than three years later.

Women's suffrage

Taking an active interest in Women's rights. In the final years of his life, he moved the Parliamentary Bill that gave women in New Zealand the vote (1893), (the first country in the world to do so), he became the honorary Mayor of Christchurch, for an exhibition, where he died in 1907. One of his granddaughters, Mary Grigg, later became an MP for the National Party.

External links

* [http://www.primeminister.govt.nz/oldpms/1879hall.html Biography] at the official website of the Prime Minister of New Zealand
* [http://www.dnzb.govt.nz/dnzb/default.asp?Find_Quick.asp?PersonEssay=1H5 Biography] in the Dictionary of New Zealand Biography