William Reeves was a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 19th century journalist and politician. He was the father of the author and politician the Hon. William Pember Reeves

William Pember Reeves

The Hon. William Pember Reeves was a New Zealand statesman, historian and poet, who promoted social reform.-Biography:...

.

He represented the Avon electorate

Avon (New Zealand electorate)

Avon is a former New Zealand Parliamentary electorate.-Population centres:The electorate is in the eastern suburbs of Christchurch, New Zealand, based on the suburb of Avonside.-History:...

 from 1867 to 1868, when he resigned. He contested the Selwyn electorate

Selwyn (New Zealand electorate)

Selwyn is the name of three seats in the New Zealand House of Representatives, based around towns on the outskirts of Christchurch city. In an historical sense, the name refers to an electorate that existed between 1866 and 1919...

 in 1871 against Edward Cephas John Stevens

Edward Cephas John Stevens

Edward Cephas John Stevens MLC was a New Zealand politician in provincial government in Canterbury, and a member of both the lower and upper houses of parliament. A businessman, he controlled the Christchurch Press for many decades...

 and had a majority of one vote. He was defeated in 1875. He was Resident Minister for the Middle (South) Island in the Fox Ministry of 1869–72.

He was a journalist and newspaper proprietor in Christchurch

Christchurch

Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...

 and Lyttelton

Lyttelton, New Zealand

Lyttelton is a port town on the north shore of Lyttelton Harbour close to Banks Peninsula, a suburb of Christchurch on the eastern coast of the South Island of New Zealand....

, and was the principal proprietor of the Lyttelton Times

Lyttelton Times

The Lyttelton Times was the first newspaper in Canterbury, New Zealand, publishing the first edition in January 1851. It was established by the Canterbury Association as part of its planned settlement of Canterbury and developed into a liberal, at the time sometimes seen as radical, newspaper...

, though he died virtually bankrupt (he had failed on the Stock Exchange in England before migrating to New Zealand).