<P> New Zealand became a separate British Crown colony in 1841 and received responsible government with the Constitution Act in 1852 . New Zealand chose not to take part in Australian Federation and became the Dominion of New Zealand on 26 September 1907, Dominion Day, by proclamation of King Edward VII . Dominion status was a public mark of the political independence that had evolved over half a century through responsible government . </P> <P> Just under one million people lived in New Zealand in 1907 and cities such as Auckland and Wellington were growing rapidly . The Dominion of New Zealand allowed the British government to shape its foreign policy and it followed Britain into the First World War . The 1923 and 1926 Imperial Conferences decided that New Zealand should be allowed to negotiate their own political treaties and the first commercial treaty was ratified in 1928 with Japan . When the Second World War broke out in 1939 the New Zealand government made its own decision to enter the war . </P> <P> In the post-war period, the term' Dominion' has fallen into disuse . Full independence was granted with the Statute of Westminster in 1931 and adopted by the New Zealand Parliament in 1947 . </P> <P> The alteration in status was stirred by a sentiment on the part of the prime ministers of the self - governing colonies of the British Empire that a new term was necessary to differentiate them from the non-self - governing colonies . At the 1907 Imperial Conference, it was argued that self - governing colonies that were not styled' dominion' like Canada, or' commonwealth' like Australia, should be designated by some such title as' state of the empire' . After much debate over lexicon, the term' Dominion' was decided upon . </P>

When did new zealand stop being a dominion