John Sheehan (New Zealand politician)

Parliament of New Zealand
Years	Term	Electorate		Party
1872–1875	5th	Rodney		Independent
1876–1879	6th	Rodney		Independent
1879–1881	7th	Thames		Independent
1881–1884	8th	Thames		Independent
1885	9th	Tauranga		Independent

John Sheehan (5 July 1844 – 12 June 1885) was a 19th-century New Zealand politician. He was the first New Zealand-born Member of Parliament elected by a general electorate (rather than a Māori electorate) and he was the first New Zealand-born person to hold cabinet rank. ^[1]

Sheehan was born in Auckland in 1844. He was educated at St Peter's School under the guidance of his teacher, Richard O'Sullivan^[2] and where he knew another later Cabinet Minister, Joseph Tole.^[3]

He was the Minister of Justice and the Minister of Māori Affairs from 1877 to 1879.^[4] He represented several North Island electorates: Rodney from 1872 to 1879, then Thames from 1879 to 1884, when he was defeated (for Napier by John Davies Ormond).^[5][6] He then represented Tauranga from a by-election on 22 May 1885 until he died shortly after on 12 June.^[5]

A fluent Maori speaker and a lawyer, he is noted for his efforts with the Repudiation Movement in the 1870s to solve land issues on behalf of Hawkes Bay Maori chiefs who claimed large European land holders, such as McLean, had acquired land improperly. The Repudiation Movement failed but Sheehan gained a positive reputation with Maori leaders. In 1877 he became Native Minister in the Grey Government. He tried to negotiate land deals in Taranaki with iwi leaders and, in respect of the King Country, with King Tawhaio, but failed. However, during these meetings he discovered that Rewi Maniapoto wanted to sell land and negotiated land sales to Europeans in the King Country that the government hoped would speed up assimilation. Sheehan negotiated unsuccessfully with Te Whiti and this failure led to Te Whiti's base of Parihaka being destroyed (with Sheehan's approval) by the Armed Constabulary in November 1881.^[2] Sheehan was also active in promoting secular education and widening the franchise but he wanted only one system of Parliamentary representation, the abolition of separate Maori seats and the end of plural voting. He was one of the first ministers to advocate breaking up of the large runholder monopolies which he believed had created a social elite at the expense of the normal citizen.^[2]

Notes

1. Scholefield 1940, p. 295.
2. Waterson, D. B. "Sheehan, John". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 7 April 2011.
3. Cyclopedia Company Limited (1902). "Hon. Joseph Augustus Tole". The Cyclopedia of New Zealand : Auckland Provincial District. Christchurch: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
4. Wilson 1985, p. 67.
5. Wilson 1985, p. 234.
6. "The General Election, 1884". National Library. 1884. p. 1. Retrieved 17 March 2012.

References

• Scholefield, Guy, ed. (1940). A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography : M–Addenda (PDF) II. Wellington: Department of Internal Affairs. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.