1904 Pahiatua by-election

1904 Pahiatua by-election

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Turnout	3,369 (79.16%)
Candidate Bill Hawkins Lindsay Buick Samuel Bolton Party Independent Liberal Liberal Conservative Popular vote 1,418 1,323 476 Percentage 41.74 38.94 14.01
Member before election John O'Meara Liberal Elected Member Bill Hawkins Independent Liberal

The Pahiatua by-election was a by-election in the New Zealand electorate of Pahiatua, a rural seat at the south-east of the North Island. The election was won by Bill Hawkins who stood as an independent Liberal.

Background

The by-election was held on 28 July 1904, and was precipitated by the death of sitting Liberal member of parliament John O'Meara on 3 July 1904. ^[1]

Former Wairau MP Lindsay Buick was selected by the government as the official Liberal candidate. ^[2] Frank C. Perry announced himself as a candidate, but later withdrew his candidature. His supporters then met to decide whether to support either Hawkins or Bolton in order to defeat the government candidate (Buick). ^[3]

Result

The following table gives the election results:

1904 Pahiatua by-election ^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Liberal	Bill Hawkins	1,418	41.74
	Liberal	Lindsay Buick	1,323	38.94
	Conservative	Samuel Bolton	476	14.01	−27.40
	Liberal	David Crewe	138	4.06
	Independent	Donald Munro	14	0.42
Informal votes			28	0.82
Majority			95	2.79
Turnout			3,397	79.16	+2.88
Registered electors			4,291

Notes

1. "Sudden Death of a Politician". The Press . Vol. LXI, no. 11937. 5 July 1904. p. 8.
2. Traue, James Edward. "Buick, Thomas Lindsay". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Ministry for Culture and Heritage . Retrieved 1 March 2016.
3. "Pahiatua Seat". Lyttelton Times . Vol. CXII, no. 13493. 18 July 1904. p. 2.
4. "The Pahiatua Seat – Mr Hawkins Returned". New Zealand Times . Vol. LXXVII, no. 5341. 29 July 1904. p. 5.