Selwyn County Council (1877-1911)
Dates
- Existence: 1877 - 1911
Biography
Selwyn County Council was originally formed in 1877 after the abolishment of the Provincial Government. It was based in Christchurch and had under its jurisdiction a total of sixteen road boards, namely: Rakaia, Lake Coleridge, Courtenay, South Malvern, East Malvern, Malvern, Upper Waimakariri, Ellesmere, Springs, Lincoln, Templeton, Riccarton, Halswell, Spreydon, Heathcote and Avon. In addition, the Tai Tapu Road District separated from Little River in 1884 and transferred to the Selwyn County.
Much of the energies of the original Selwyn County were spent on the water race system and slaughterhouse controls, but it also issued dog licences, made grants for recreation grounds, reserves and cemeteries and dealt with the small bird nuisance - which plagued farmers for many years.
For a variety of reasons this 1877 Selwyn County fell apart with several road districts withdrawing from it by 1910 and all withdrawing by 1911. Nine new counties then formed out of the road board districts - Tawera was created out of Malvern & Upper Waimakariri; Malvern out of Courtenay, South Malvern and East Malvern; Selwyn (the second one) out of Rakaia and Lake Coleridge; Ellesmere from the Ellesmere Road Board; Springs from the Springs Road Board; Waimairi from Avon and Riccarton; Paparua from Lincoln and Templeton (and after two months it took Malvern's West Melton Riding); Halswell out of Halswell and Tai Tapu (and after a short while it took part of Paparua's Ladbrooks Riding); and finally Spreydon, which became a borough and merged with Christchurch City.
1963 saw Selwyn and Malvern merge and in October 1989 Ellesmere, Malvern and part of Paparua counties amalgamated to form the Selwyn District Council.