Kōrero: Colonial and provincial government

The Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act 1885 established 28 hospital districts to take responsibility for this aspect of state activity, which had been carried out with varying degrees of effectiveness by the provinces. Board members were elected by the county and borough councils within each district, and funds came from local sources and central government grants. The 20 district health boards of the 2010s were the successors to those districts. Some of their members were directly elected by voters, and most of their funding came from central government. The Southland and Otago district health boards merged as the Southern District Health Board, which held its inaugural meeting, shown here, in May 2010. In 2022 the district health boards were replaced by Te Whatu Ora Health New Zealand and Te Aka Whai Ora Māori Health Authority. The latter was abolished in 2024.