3rd New Zealand Parliament

The third New Zealand Parliament was a term of the New Zealand Parliament. Elections for this term were held between 12 December 1860 and 28 March 1861 in 43 electorates to elect 53 MPs. Two electorates were added to this during this term, Gold Fields District (overlaid over existing Otago electorates) and a new Dunedin electorate created by splitting the existing City of Dunedin into Dunedin and Suburbs North and Dunedin and Suburbs South, increasing the number of MPs to 57. During the term of this Parliament, six Ministries were in power.

The third Parliament opened on 30 May 1861, following New Zealand's 1860–61 election. It was the second Parliament under which New Zealand had responsible government, meaning that unlike the first Parliament, the Cabinet was chosen (although not officially appointed) by Parliament rather than by the Governor.

Political parties had not been established yet; this only happened after the 1890 election. Anyone attempting to form an administration thus had to win support directly from individual MPs. This made first forming, and then retaining a government difficult and challenging.

The third Parliament sat during the time of the New Zealand land wars. Even before the first session started, William Cutfield King (representing the Grey and Bell electorate) was killed in the First Taranaki War.Marmaduke Nixon (Franklin electorate) was killed in action in 1864 whilst leading an assault on a Māori village during the Invasion of Waikato.

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