When New Zealand became a separate Colony from New South Wales in 1841, the Royal Charter established three provinces. The Porirua area became part of New Munster which included that part of the North Island south of the Patea River and the whole of the South Island. The British Parliament passed the first New Zealand Constitution Act in 1846 which reformed the provinces and the Porirua area became part of New Ulster which now included all of the North Island. The provinces were reformed again when the New Zealand Constitution Act of 1852 established six provinces with Porirua included in the Wellington Province. In 1876, Provincial Government was abolished and replaced with 36 borough councils and 63 county councils and the Porirua area became the Porirua Riding of the Hutt County, formed in 1877. The Hutt County covered all the area south of the Waikanae River and West of the Remutaka Ranges that lay outside of Wellington City. As the population of local areas grew, a number of local boroughs were split off from the Hutt County. In 1908, a smaller Makara County with offices in Porirua was formed from the Mākara and Porirua Ridings or the south-western part of the Hutt County. The new Makara County included Porirua, Titahi Bay, Tawa Flat, and all of the area to the south lying to the west of Wellington City and outside the areas covered by Wellington City and the new and independent boroughs of Miramar, Karori, Onslow, and Johnsonville.