Women ratepayers in region’s history
Waihi Beach researcher Sharlene Rumney is on a mission to examine the effect of women’s liability as ratepayers in the Tauranga County 1875-1903.
Sharlene, who has a Bachelor of Arts (BA) in History and Political Science and a BA (Hons) in History is compiling a list of the women ratepayers and their land holdings.
In the 125th year since New Zealand women had the vote, it is important to understand the context in which their emergence into full citizenship happened, she says.
Once aspect of this is women’s function as property owners, and how, in settler society their rights and obligations were expressed in formal relationships.
For all land-owning women, paying rates on their property was an obligation imposed from
1876, when the Rating Act, the Municipal Act and Counties Act were passed in the NZ Parliament. Both the Municipal Corporations Act and the Counties Act gave women ratepayers the right to vote in local elections and for married women, independent ownership rights came from the Married Women’s Property Act in
1884.
The relationship between women’s status as ratepayers and married women as property owners is especially interesting in rural areas. A woman’s entitlement to vote for local councillors in 1876 hinged on whether she appeared on the valuation roll. So if land was listed in the rating records in a woman’s name, she could vote and she was also liable to pay the rates. Sharlene’s research proposes to explore and explain how this legal structure played out in the Tauranga County.
“I have located 65 women listed as the land owners of 104 blocks of land in the Tauranga County Rates Ledger 1902-1903 (previous records were burnt). The Waimapu District has been excluded from the study, therefore these details come from Katikati outlying, Katikati Road, Te Puna, Te Puke and Maketu¯ Thirteen women within the study owned multiple blocks, including some additional titles in Waimapu.
“What all these listings show is that parliamentary suffrage had a precursor in local government, although how actively women took part and how, or if they actually voted is much less understood as if their economic life, how they acquired the land and then put together the cash to meet rate demands, is also less clear.”
Did these women exercise their voting rights in local elections?
Currently Sharlene has determined that in 1901 and 1902 Adela Stewart voted as in her book My Simple Life In New Zealand she states in 1901: “On 26th we drove to the Court House, Uretara to vote for rating on the unimproved land”. In 1902 Adela Stewart wrote: “One Saturday I had to go to the Court House to vote for G.V.S. on the Road Board and he was elected.”
Why did married women take on responsibility for the rates on land their husbands, presumably purchased?
“This question is unanswered. About one third of the women were widows, but we need to determine the reasons for ownership and therefore paying rates.”
Sharlene is asking the public to provide further information about the named women and the land that was registered under their name in the 1902-1903 Tauranga Country Rate Book.
“What I am hoping to find out from the public is all the extra details about the land the women held in their names. I am interested in how the land came into the women’s name, the land use, occupation and education of the women, any maps, plans or titles to the land and how the women then disposed of the land, by sale or will.”
Some of the 65 women include Isabella (Johnson) Elliot at Waihi South who had 594 acres, Emma (Sharpe) Diprose 304 acres also Waihi South. In Katikati Cecilia (Anderson) Stewart 1896 acres, Ann Robertson, 139 acres, Jane Beattie 100 acres, Eliza (Grist) Morton 100 acres, and in Te Mania Margaret (Wishart) Rea 223 acres and Tahawai Mary (Magee) Turner 217 acres. In Te Puna Eliza Darby 100 acres and Maketu Emily (Spencer) Way 195 acres, Louise (Ripley) Hewitt 123 acres and Barbara (Maughan) Hetherington 100 acres.
The women are not strongly represented in public records so the search for private records helps the research and can give a better understanding of the economic and political life of women.
Any stories the families may hold about the women and the land would be useful to build up the broader picture, and if they know of any political interests, Sharlene said.
Western Bay Museum manager Paula Gaelic is working with Sharlene on this research.
Sharlene has a list of the women and their landholdings.
‘I have located 65 women listed as the land owners of 104 blocks of land in the Tauranga County Rates ’ Ledger 1902-1903
To find out more email her at research@westernbaymuseum. co.nz