The counties of New Zealand were the administrative divisions representing the country's rural areas, existing from the abolition of the provinces in 1876 until the major local government reforms of 1989. They were governed by county councils and existed alongside the country's boroughs, town districts, and other administrative divisions.
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History
From 1853 until 1876, New Zealand had a semi-federal system of provinces. Each province had its own legislature and superintendent. These provinces set up their own local boards and councils. The provinces were abolished on 1 November 1876, following the passage of the Abolition of the Provinces Act 1876.
The original Counties Bill intended to merge 314 road boards into 39 counties; however, as a result of lobbying, the final Counties Act 1876 as passed created 63 counties. The counties established by the Act were found to be too small; they could not effectively provide the expected services and mainly continued on the construction and maintenance of rural roads as the pre-existing road boards had done. Many ad hoc bodies were created to manage services such as education, health, water, and ports over the succeeding decades.
As of 1966, it was no longer possible to create new counties except for the merger of pre-existing counties. Counties at that point could create county towns, subordinate to the county, in areas with at least 200 people or 60 dwellings. There were 117 counties in 1966, with all but two having county councils; two remained without government as they were sparsely populated.