7-718: Waikato County was one of the counties of New Zealand on the North Island . Under the Local Government (Waikato Region) Reorganisation Order of 1989, nearly all of the county was added to the boroughs of Huntly , Ngāruawāhia , most of Raglan County Council , and a small part of Waipa County Council, to form Waikato District Council. The council first met on 9 January 1877 at the Court House in Cambridge . In 1923, Waikato County covered 640 sq mi (1,700 km) and had
14-525: A population of 8,350, with 128 mi (206 km) of gravel roads , 356 mi (573 km) of mud roads and 12 mi (19 km) of tracks. The former County Council office at 455 Grey Street in Hamilton East opened in 1910. It has not been greatly altered and is now used by a travel agent. It is protected by a Category B listing in Hamilton City's District Plan. It was replaced by new offices to
21-446: A system of larger regions . The Counties Bill of 1876 was initiated to merge 314 road boards into 39 counties. However, as a result of lobbying, the number of counties had grown to 63 by the time the bill was enacted. Counties had chairmen, not mayors as boroughs and cities had; many legislative provisions (such as burial and land subdivision control) were different for the counties. By 1966, there were 112 counties. During
28-423: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Counties of New Zealand A system of counties of New Zealand was instituted after the country dissolved its provinces in 1876, and these counties were similar to other countries' systems, lasting with little change (except mergers and other localised boundary adjustments) until 1989, when they were reorganised into district and city councils within
35-466: The 1989 local government reforms , which covered the country in (non-overlapping) cities and districts and abolished all the counties except for the Chatham Islands County, which survived under that name for a further six years but then became a "territory" under the "Chatham Islands Council". The term is perpetuated in the name "Counties-Manukau", which refers to areas of South Auckland and
42-562: The rear of it, which had a foundation stone dated 4 February 1971 and were first used for a meeting on 21 March 1972. The old building was leased to the Ministry of Agriculture. After 1989, the new building was used by Waikato District Council and then by Hill Laboratories until 2017. Since 2020 it has been renovated as Hills Village apartments. 37°47′28″S 175°17′33″E / 37.791167°S 175.292454°E / -37.791167; 175.292454 This Waikato geography article
49-449: The second half of the 20th century, many counties received overflow population from nearby cities. The result was often a merger of the two into a "district" (e.g., Rotorua ) or a change of name to "district" (e.g., Waimairi ) or "city" (e.g., Manukau ). The Local Government Act 1974 began the process of bringing urban, mixed, and rural councils into the same legislative framework. Substantial reorganisations under that Act resulted in
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