During the first forty years of representative government there had been a succession of acts and amendments relating to franchise and the conduct of elections. In 1879 the Qualifications of Electors Act had provided for every adult man who resided in the electoral district (as well as those who qualified by reason of property) to have a vote. The Electoral Act 1893 amended and consolidated these former acts, removing, for instance, plural voting. The momentous landmark which included women on the same terms as men was achieved by the simple expedient of replacing the word “man”, so that the act enfranchises: “Every person of the age of twentyone years or upwards who has a freehold estate of £25 or has resided for one year in the colony and for three months in the electoral district for which he [sic] claims to vote”. Thus New Zealand became the first self-governing nation to have universal adult suffrage.