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Canterbury and 500,000 acres in the North Island, John Studholme was one of the largest runholders in New Zealand. His eldest son who, later, decided to live at Coldstream, was of much more importance to Ashburton.

From 1853 to 1860 Ashburton formed part of the two-member Christchurch Country District parliamentary electorate. Seven men represented this district during its brief existence and they included John Hall, Edward Jerningham Wakefield, who died in Ashburton in 1879, and John Ollivier, one of the most popular men in Canterbury, who acted as Ashburton magistrate for several years in the 1880s. Between 1860 and 1866 the new Timaru electorate extended as far north as the Rakaia River; its member was Francis Jollie, runholder at Peel Forest.

For the following twelve years until the end of this period and for several years later Ashburton formed part of the large Coleridge parliamentary electorate, which extended northwards behind the Selwyn and Christchurch electorates to the Waimakariri River. Its first representative (1866-70) was J. C. Wilson who earned an unfavourable reputation in Parliament for his attitude on three issues. First, he drew on his experience during the Indian Mutiny—in which he had distinguished himself—and strongly advocated the use of Gurkha troops against the Maoris in the Waikato. Secondly, he introduced a Masters and Servants Bill which proposed to make it a crime for a servant or contractor not to fulfil the terms of his engagement to his employer’s satisfaction, while leaving the employer, who for example refused payment, open only to a civil action for damages. Thirdly, during the debates on the development policy of 1870, he proved himself to be the most unrestrained of Vogel’s critics.

The next two representatives were of less importance to Ashburton. John Karslake Karslake (1871-2) was a partner in Mount Torlesse Station in North Canterbury. Just before his election he had held Waireka Station on the Selwyn River. The Rev. William James G. Bluett (1872-5), parson, farmer, auctioneer, politician, belonged to the Ellesmere region. He was of less importance for his services as representative than for his promotion of a farmer controlled wheat trade with England.

During the first year of Wason’s term (1876-9) as member for Coleridge, he unsuccessfully opposed the great majority of his fellow Canterbury representatives on two prominent issues. He introduced a Canterbury Pastoral Leases Bill which attempted to