1868 First three Maori MPs elected to Parliament

Four Māori seats were established in 1867, initially for a period of five years. The first elections for Māori members (with universal suffrage for adult men) were held in 1868. The innovation was in part a recognition of Māori support for the Crown during the New Zealand Wars; the Māori seats also served as a counterweight to new seats that had been created on the South Island goldfields.

Nomination day in all four Māori seats was 15 April. Two members, Frederick Nene Russell (Northern Maori) and Mete Kīngi Paetahi (Western Maori) were elected unopposed. In Eastern Maori there were two candidates and Tareha Te Moananui was elected after a show of hands. In Southern Maori there were three candidates and a poll was demanded. Held in June, this resulted in the election of John Patterson.

In the 1870s Hōri Kerei Taiaroa (pictured), the member for Southern Maori, argued unsuccessfully for an increase in the number of Maori electoral districts to five or even seven. He did succeed in getting legislation passed in 1876 to establish the seats on a permanent basis.