[1] He contested the Akaroa electorate against William Sefton Moorhouse, the incumbent for the seat and Superintendent of the Province of Canterbury.
[2][3] At the time of his election, he was aged about 22, one of the youngest members in the country's parliamentary history.
[1] White resigned in 1863, and Lancelot Walker won the subsequent by-election.
[4] White's house Blythcliffe in 37 Rue Balguerie, Akaroa, is presumed to have been designed by Samuel Farr based on drawings prepared by the Australian architect John Verge.
Built in 1857, it was "the grandest house of its day in Akaroa".