Editing Prime Minister of New Zealand (section)

===Early leaders===
On becoming the [[Colony of New Zealand]] in 1841, the country was directly governed by a [[Governor-General of New Zealand|governor]], appointed by the [[Colonial Office]] in Britain. [[Self-government]] was established in 1853, following the [[New Zealand Constitution Act 1852]], and the [[1st New Zealand Parliament|First Parliament]] met on 24 May 1854.<ref>{{cite web|title=The House of Representatives – First sitting, 1854|url=https://nzhistory.govt.nz/politics/history-of-parliament/first-sitting-1854|publisher=Ministry for Culture and Heritage|access-date=15 May 2018|date=19 August 2015}}</ref>

The origins of the office of prime minister are disputed. Use of the words ''[[prime minister]]'' as a descriptive term dates back to the First Parliament, where they are applied to [[James FitzGerald (New Zealand politician)|James FitzGerald]] and [[Thomas Forsaith]].<ref name="McLean">{{cite book|last1=McLean|first1=Gavin|title=The Governors: New Zealand's Governors and Governors-General|date=2006|publisher=Otago University Press|page=354|isbn=9781877372254|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-IOOAAAAMAAJ|language=en}}</ref> FitzGerald and Forsaith had no official titles, however, and New Zealand had not yet obtained self-government. As such, they are not usually considered prime ministers in any substantive sense.<ref name="McLintock1966">{{cite web|last1=McLintock|first1=Alexander Hare|last2=Foster|first2=Bernard John|last3=Taonga|title=The First Premier|url=https://teara.govt.nz/en/1966/prime-ministers-of-new-zealand|website=[[An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand]]|publisher= Ministry for Culture and Heritage|access-date=15 May 2018|language=en|date=1966}}</ref>

The first person to be formally appointed to a position of executive leadership was [[Henry Sewell]],<ref name="McLintock1966"/> who formed a brief [[Ministry (collective executive)|ministry]] in April 1856, at the beginning of the [[2nd New Zealand Parliament|Second Parliament]]. Despite his formal leadership role, however, his only actual title was "[[Colonial Secretary of New Zealand|colonial secretary]]",<ref name="McLean"/> a position comparable to a [[Minister of Internal Affairs (New Zealand)|minister of internal affairs]]. His successor, [[William Fox (politician)|William Fox]], was also given a formal leadership role but was not a colonial secretary. In 1864 when [[Frederick Weld]] became the sixth person appointed to formal leadership, a substantive leadership title, "premier", appeared. Weld's successor, [[Edward Stafford (politician)|Edward Stafford]], briefly changed the title to "first minister", but it was soon restored to premier during the second tenure of Fox in 1869.<ref name="title">{{cite encyclopedia|url=http://www.teara.govt.nz/en/1966/prime-ministers-of-new-zealand/page-2|last1=McLintock|first1=Alexander Hare|title=Prime Minister: The Title 'Premier'|encyclopedia=[[An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand]]|date=1966|access-date=5 January 2015}}</ref> From that point, the title "premier" was used almost exclusively for the remainder of the 19th century. Nevertheless, in the Schedule of the [[Civil List]] of 1873, provision was made for the salary of the head of government "being the Prime Minister".<ref name="title"/>

Initially, premiers acted as mere advisers to the governor—with the governor at times a very active partner. This began to change during the first tenure of Edward Stafford. Stafford met with his ministers and made decisions outside of the [[Executive Council of New Zealand|Executive Council]] (which was chaired by the governor), thus establishing the modern convention of [[cabinet government]].<ref>{{Cite book |first=Edward |last=Bohan |title=Edward Stafford, New Zealand's first statesman|place = [[Christchurch]], New Zealand |publisher=Hazard Press |year=1994 |isbn=0-908790-67-8 }}</ref> Stafford also clashed with the governor over control of [[Māori people|native]] affairs, which was eventually to fall within the premier's powers.<ref name="governors">{{citation|first=Gavin|last=McLean|title=The Governors, New Zealand Governors and Governors-General|publisher=Otago University Press|url=http://www.otago.ac.nz/press/booksauthors/2006/governors.html|isbn= 978-1-877372-25-4|date=October 2006}}</ref>