Two centuries of service marked
Two plaques marking 200 years since the first Justice of the Peace was appointed in New Zealand have been unveiled at Waitangi.
About 35 people attended the ceremony, hosted by the Royal Federation of NZ Justices’ Associations, including JPs from around the country, their families, Waitangi Treaty Grounds staff and past federation president Graeme Kitto.
The ceremony was followed by the blessing of two plaques at the Treaty House by Bishop Te Kitohi Pikaahu, which were then unveiled.
Federation president Rachael O’Grady said 2014 had been the actual bicentenary of the appointment of New Zealand’s first JP, Thomas Kendall, but it had taken time to find an appropriate site for the plaques. The occasion had been marked in 2014 with the staging of the 86th annual JP conference at the Copthorne Hotel in Waitangi, attended by more than 300 JPs.
The federation had also hosted a reception at Government House, and issued commemorative postage stamps.
“They [the plaques] serve as a reminder to celebrate our history, and that we’ve provided information to the public for such a long time. It’s the longest-serving organisation in New Zealand. It’s quite a remarkable record.”
Kendall, a missionary in the Bay of Islands, was appointed a JP in 1814 by Governor Macquarie, of New South Wales.
Ms O’Grady, who has been a JP since 2008 in Kotemaori, a rural community in Hawke’s Bay, said JPs provided vital services to their communities, witnessing documents, taking statutory declarations and certify paperwork, and some serving in their local courts.
Doubtless Bay resident Bev Webber, who has been a JP for seven years, is the current registrar of the Far North JP Association, and is a former president of that association, said she had been keen to do something for her community.
“I see it as a really important role. It’s an honour,” she said.