Suffrage petition submitted to Parliament on 28 July 1893

On 11 Aug 1893, the 13 suffrage petitions totalling 31,872 signatures were presented by MP Sir John Hall to Parliament

Hall presented the "monster" petition to House of Representatives by rolling it down the aisle of the Debating Chamber

Women aged 21 & above wrote their name & location, & seven have been identified as Māori on the "monster" petition

Image: Wāhine Māori who signed included Frances Ada Orbell & her mother Rora Orbell of Moeraki who signed sheet 302

On 8 Sept 1893, Electoral Bill to include women was passed & Electoral Act signed on 19 Sept by Governor Lord Glasgow

NZ became the first self-governing country in which women had the right to vote in parliamentary elections

Cartoon: A woman deciding which ass to give her vote but has no better choice between Liberal & Conservative parties

Cartoon: Politics, like a dirty boy, would be cleaned up by women’s firm hand once the franchise was extended

Cartoon: Only the good judgement & influence of women voters will control a lot of the vices of male-dominated society

Electoral rolls for the 70 general seats showed 109,461 women had registered (c.80% of eligible women) & 90,290 voted

Those whose descent was exactly half Māori were allowed to choose whether to vote in the general or Māori electorates

On finding their names weren't on the electoral roll for their Māori seat, 52 women from Otaki queried this in Oct 1893

They sent a letter with their names to Hoani Taipua (Western Māori MP) who forwarded to Native Minister on 27 Oct

It was estimated c.4000 Māori women voted of the 11,269 Māori votes at polling booths in the 4 Māori electorates

Whereas voting in the general electorates was by secret ballot, in Māori electorates it was by show of hands until 1938

Women outside the polling booth at the Provincial Council building in Nelson

Women standing outside the New Plymouth polling booth

Women entering the Tuam Street Hall in Christchurch

In 1885, NZ WCTU formed & its 1st national franchise superintendent was Mrs G. Clarke, followed in 1887 by Kate Sheppard

The NZ Women's Christian Temperance Union operated through departments which included the Franchise and Legislation Dept

Between 1886-1892, suffrage petitions from WCTU led to series of electoral bills which were defeated in the Upper House

On 18 May 1893, Meri Te Tai Mangakāhia proposed motion to Māori Kotahitanga Parliament that Māori women be able to vote

She also requested women be able to sit as members of Kotahitanga (formed 1892 & husband Hāmiora was elected as Premier)

Early 1893, WCTU organised another petition & mailed sheets to members to gather signatures before the general election

The petition was to be circulated quickly so that a Bill could passed before the general election being held in Nov

13 petitions were returned signed by women aged 21 & above, & the largest was from "Mary J Carpenter and 25,519 others"

(Image: 1st sheet of largest petition which was from Canterbury includes Carpenter's & Sheppard's name & address)

The 546 pages from the largest of the 13 petitions were glued end-on-end by Kate Sheppard at her home in Christchurch

Francise Report for 1893 of The New Zealand Women's Christian Temperance Union

RNZ (2018): Unwrapping the Suffrage Petition (52 mins)

NZOnScreen (2012): What really happened - Votes for women (70:57 mins)