Story: Voting rights

As New Zealand’s European population increased in the 1870s, the number of men unable to vote also rose. Young tradesmen, along with many of those who worked in banks, offices, and factories, lived in boarding houses, so were not included in the householders’ franchise. Farmers’ sons were also often ineligible. Extending the franchise to these men, such as those who lived in this boarding house at Mōkau, was generally supported in the 1870s.