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The Hokitika by-election 1878 was a by-election held in the multi-member Hokitika electorate during the 6th New Zealand Parliament, on 26 June 1878. The by-election was caused by the resignation of incumbent MP Charles Button and was won by Seymour Thorne George, who defeated Gerard George Fitzgerald. Thorne George was suggested as a candidate by the premier, Sir George Grey; he was the Premier's nephew, and lived in the North Island.
Button had first been elected to the House of Representatives in the 1876 general election. He had contested the two-member Hokitika electorate with four other candidates, and as the second-highest polling candidate, he was successful; the other successful candidate was Edmund Barff. [1] [2] When Hokitika electorate constituents passed a resolution in 1878 that thanked Button but expressed regret that he did not support Sir George Grey, Button handed in his resignation on 22 May. [3] [4] [2]
Electors presented a petition to Robert Reid, asking to allow him to be nominated, but he declined as his business affairs needed his attention. [5] Reid had been one of the candidates in the 1876 election, and had been narrowly beaten into third place. [1] Another person asked to stand was the shop keeper and lay preacher D. W. Virtue, but he also declined. [5] [6]
A local newspaper, the West Coast Times, mentioned that whilst Gerard George Fitzgerald was apparently interested, he would stand no chance. [5] The newspaper was dismissive of Fitzgerald ("would not be likely to meet with general support") [5] and questioned whether the returning officer would even accept his nomination; [7] this referred to his bankruptcy earlier in the year. [8] Fitzgerald was the first to formally declare his candidacy on 10 June 1878 by placing an advertisement in the West Coast Times. [7] [9] The following day, the West Coast Times ran the most critical editorial about Fitzgerald: [10]
The electors are now asked to return a gentleman to Parliament who is rightly considered unfit for the public service, who was, in fact, if not in name, dismissed for conduct for which there is no excuse. He is quite competent to be a member of the House, but incompetent to sit on the Magistrate's Bench! Is Parliament become a refuge for the destitute? Is the Insolvency Court a half-way house to the Legislature? Does a long experience of questionable company tend to qualify a man to represent a large constituency in Parliament? Mr Fitzgerald is well known to every one in Hokitika and on the Coast. Why should he show his contempt for this constituency by offering them his services?
The premier at the time, Sir George Grey, was very popular with people on the West Coast. Robert Reid was a strong supporter of Grey, and Reid owned the West Coast Times' from 1874 to 1883, doing everything he could to support the Grey administration. [11] [12] A Hokitika man enquired by telegram whether Grey could recommend a good candidate from outside the area. Sir George replied: [5]
My nephew Seymour Thorne George would be glad to represent your district if you sent him a requisition asking him to do so. He was with me when I visited your district in February last. G. Grey
The Grey River Argus was most critical of this situation. Thorne George, at the time in his mid-20s, was described by them as a "perfect nobody". [13] Thorne George replied to the requisition by telegram from Wellington on 10 June, acceding to the request. [14] [15] He arrived in Hokitika by coach from Christchurch on 19 June and gave his first public speech on the following evening in the Hokitika town hall. [16]
Richard Seddon, who had contested the 1876 election coming fourth, was noted as not being inclined to run in the by-election. [5] Like Fitzgerald, Seddon was in financial difficulties and a few months later, in October, he filed for bankruptcy. [17] As a staunch liberal and supporter of George Grey, Seddon organised support for Thorne George. [18]
There was also a discussion whether to ask Button to stand again. The West Coast Times argued that the vote passed at the meeting that resulted in his resignation may not have been representative. [5] The newspaper reported on 14 June that Button had decided against contesting the election. [19]
Another candidate was Andrew Cumming, a well-known individual and for some years trading in Hokitika. [15] [20] [21] S. Croumbie-Brown of Kumara announced himself as a candidate. A staff member of the Kumara Times, he was virtually unknown in the district. [7] [15] [20]
The hustings were erected outside the Hokitika Magistrate's Court building for the nomination meeting on 20 June at noon. Marcus Furlong South was the returning officer. [16] Because of heavy rain, the nomination meeting was held inside the court, with the returning officer taking the bench. The merchant James Chesney nominated Thorne George, with the merchant Joseph Churches seconding the nomination. Fitzgerald was nominated by John Bevan and seconded by George Davidson, an engineer, blacksmiths and ironfounder. The third person to be nominated was Croumbie-Brown, but by then, the rain had stopped and the waiting crowd demanded forcefully for the remaining affairs to be held on the hustings. The returning officer moved the affairs outside and asked for a show of hands, which he declared in favour of Fitzgerald. A formal poll was asked for on behalf of Croumbie-Brown. Fitzgerald then gave an address to the electors, and towards the end, it started raining again. The other two candidates said that they would not keep the electors while it was raining, and the proceedings were terminated. [23]
Cumming placed an advertisement the day after the nomination meeting giving reasons why he had withdrawn from the contest. [24] Croumbie-Brown announced his resignation from the contest after a 22 June meeting held by Thorne George in Kumara in front of an alleged crowd of 1,200 people. [25]
Polling day was Wednesday, 26 June 1878, and voting was done between 9 am and 4 pm. The only polling booth in Hokitika was at the Magistrate's Court building, [26] but 13 further booths were throughout the electorate. [27] There were 1,673 votes cast in the election by secret ballot. [27] A New Zealand census had been held in 1878 [28] and this had resulted in an updated electoral roll for the Hokitika electorate of 1,823 names. [29] The turnout was thus over 91% at the by-election. Fitzgerald had a small majority at the Hokitika booth, but overall Thorne George won the by-election [30] with a majority of just over 5% of the votes. [27]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | Seymour Thorne George | 884 | 52.84 | ||
| Independent | Gerard George Fitzgerald | 789 | 47.16 | ||
| Majority | 95 | 5.68 | |||
| Turnout | 1,673 | 91.77 | |||
| Registered electors | 1,823 | ||||
Thorne George represented the Hokitika electorate until the end of the parliamentary term. In the 1879 election, he announced that he would contest the Rodney electorate north of Auckland (where he was successful). [30] There were four liberal candidates for the two seats in the Hokitika electorate, and Seddon sought and obtained an endorsement from George Grey for his candidacy: "You are worthy; stand yourself." [31] The opposition candidate Robert Reid and Seddon were returned for the Hokitika electorate. [32] [33]
Richard John Seddon was a New Zealand politician who served as the 15th premier of New Zealand from 1893 until his death. In office for thirteen years, he is to date New Zealand's longest-serving head of government.
Kumara was a parliamentary electorate in the West Coast region of New Zealand, from 1881 to 1890.
Hokitika is a former parliamentary electorate in the West Coast region of New Zealand, based on the town of Hokitika. It existed from 1871 to 1890 and was represented by nine members of parliament. For a time, it was one of the two-member electorates in New Zealand.
Westland was a parliamentary electorate in the West Coast of New Zealand from 1866 to 1868 and 1890 to 1972. In 1972 the Tasman and West Coast electorates replaced the former Buller and Westland electorates.
Charles Edward Button was a solicitor, Supreme Court judge, Mayor of Hokitika and later Birkenhead, and an independent conservative Member of Parliament in New Zealand. Born in Tasmania, he came to New Zealand with his wife in 1863. He first lived in Invercargill, then in Westland, and after a brief period in Christchurch, he settled in Auckland. He was an MP for two periods, and when he was first elected to Parliament, he beat his colleague, friend, political opponent, and later Premier Richard Seddon; this was the only election defeat ever suffered by Seddon.
Edwin Blake was a 19th-century Liberal Party Member of Parliament in Canterbury, New Zealand.
Edmund Barff was a 19th-century Member of Parliament from the West Coast, New Zealand.
John Bevan was a 19th-century member of the House of Representatives. He was an auctioneer and merchant from Hokitika on the West Coast of New Zealand.
Gerard George Fitzgerald was a 19th-century Member of Parliament in New Zealand. Like his brother James FitzGerald, he was a journalist of considerable ability, and co-founded The Southland Times in 1862. For the last 19 years of his life, he was editor of The Timaru Herald.
Seymour Thorne George was a New Zealand politician. The premier, Sir George Grey, was his wife's half-uncle and adoptive father, and that relationship resulted in Thorne George representing the South Island electorate of Hokitika despite him being based in the North Island. He later represented the Rodney electorate. Thorne George was later Mayor of Parnell.
Joseph Grimmond was a gold miner and politician from the West Coast, New Zealand. He was mayor of Ross for many years, represented the Hokitika electorate in the House of Representatives for one term, and was later called to the Legislative Council.
Robert Caldwell Reid was a 19th-century Member of Parliament from the West Coast, New Zealand. Born in Scotland and attracted by the gold rushes in Victoria and the West Coast, he was later the proprietor of a series of newspapers.
Westland High School, previously Hokitika High School or Hokitika District High School, is a secondary school in Hokitika, New Zealand.
The Westland Boroughs by-election 1868 was a by-election held in the Westland Boroughs electorate during the 4th New Zealand Parliament, on 3 April 1868.
The Mayor of Hokitika officiated over the borough of Hokitika in New Zealand. The office was created in 1866 when Hokitika became a municipality and a borough two years later, and ceased with the 1989 local government reforms, when Hokitika Borough and Westland County merged to form Westland District. The first Mayor of Hokitika was James Bonar.
Henry Leslie Michel was Mayor of Hokitika for several years, and served on the New Zealand Legislative Council from 1918 until his death. He had stood for the New Zealand Parliament on four occasions, in later years for the Reform Party, but was unsuccessful.
Westland County, also known as County of Westland, was a local government area on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island. It existed from 1868 to 1873, and then from 1876 until 1989. In its first incarnation, it constituted the government for the area that was split from the Canterbury Province, with the West Coast Gold Rush having given the impetus for that split. It had the same administrative powers as a provincial council, but the legislative power rested with Parliament in Wellington. The first Westland County was the predecessor to Westland Province.
The Hokitika Clock Tower, initially called the Westland War Memorial and then the Coronation and War Memorial, is a prominent landmark in Hokitika, New Zealand. The memorial was initiated, fundraised for, and carried out by a committee, to commemorate the region's contribution to the Second Boer War; not just the four local men who had died but all 130 who had gone to war in South Africa. An additional purpose was to provide Hokitika with a town clock.
This statue of Richard Seddon is in Hokitika, on the West Coast of the South Island of New Zealand. The statue is situated on Sewell Street, outside the Government Buildings known as Seddon House.
Walter Scott Reid was New Zealand's first non-political Solicitor-General and the first elected president of the New Zealand Law Society.
