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| Turnout | 4,719 (51.43%) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Wellington Central by-election of 1918 was a by-election held in the Wellington Central electorate during the 19th New Zealand Parliament, on 3 October 1918. It was caused by the death of incumbent MP Robert Fletcher of the Liberal Party and was won by Peter Fraser with a majority of 1,624.
The Wartime Coalition government between the Reform Party and Liberal Party sought to retain the seat, though were anxious of their chances of retaining an urban electorate following their narrow win in the Wellington North by-election several months earlier. Under the terms of the coalition agreement between Reform and the Liberal's a condition was made not to oppose each other in by-elections for deceased or retiring MP's from their own parties. Several candidates were approached for the Liberal nomination and eventually William Hildreth, a Wellington City Councillor was selected and endorsed by acting-Prime Minister James Allen. [1]
The Labour Party had supported Robert Fletcher (a left winger amongst the Liberals) in the 1911 and 1914 elections, but decided to contest the election for his vacated seat themselves. Labour were confident following a near victory in the Wellington North by-election earlier in the year. There were three contestants for the Labour Party nomination Peter Fraser, John Read and Michael Reardon. [2] Fraser was selected as the official Labour candidate and had a large local following. Fraser had gained much notability after spending one year in jail for sedition after speaking out against the war and conscription. Even on his release he was still a prominent critic of the government. [3]
Joe Mack stood as an independent Labour candidate. He was a moderate amongst the union movement and unlike most others he supported both the war effort and conscription. To many observers, Mack represented "sane Labour" due to his distance from the radical views held by many socialists at the time. His candidature was put forward by the Protestant Political Association of New Zealand claiming him to be a patriotic individual and not a "Bolshevik" like many of his union colleagues. [4]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Liberal | Robert Fletcher | 5,208 | 64.40 | ||
| Reform | Francis Fisher | 2,879 | 35.60 | ||
| Majority | 2,329 | 28.80 | |||
| Informal votes | 84 | 1.03 | |||
| Turnout | 8,171 | 84.47 | |||
| Registered electors | 9,673 | ||||
| Liberal gain from Reform | Swing | ||||
The following table gives the election results:
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Labour | Peter Fraser | 2,668 | 56.54 | ||
| Independent Labour | Joe Mack | 1,044 | 22.12 | ||
| Liberal | William Hildreth | 784 | 16.61 | ||
| Independent | Harry Atmore | 185 | 3.92 | ||
| Independent | Lindsay John Frederick Garmston | 29 | 0.61 | ||
| Independent | William Cyril Tanner | 9 | 0.19 | ||
| Majority | 1,624 | 34.41 | |||
| Turnout | 4,719 | 51.43 | -33.04 | ||
| Registered electors | 9,176 | ||||
| Labour gain from Liberal | Swing | ||||
Michael Joseph Savage was a New Zealand politician who served as the 23rd prime minister of New Zealand, heading the First Labour Government from 1935 until his death in 1940.
Peter Fraser was a New Zealand politician who served as the 24th prime minister of New Zealand from 27 March 1940 until 13 December 1949. Considered a major figure in the history of the New Zealand Labour Party, he was in office longer than any other Labour prime minister, and is to date New Zealand's fourth-longest-serving head of government.
The 1935 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 25th term. It resulted in the Labour Party's first electoral victory, with Michael Joseph Savage becoming the first Labour Prime Minister after defeating the governing coalition, consisting of the United Party and the Reform Party, in a landslide.
The 1943 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 27th term. With the onset of World War II, elections were initially postponed, but it was eventually decided to hold a general election in September 1943, around two years after it would normally have occurred. The election saw the governing Labour Party re-elected by a comfortable margin, although the party nevertheless lost considerable ground to the expanding National Party.
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Alfred Humphrey Hindmarsh was a New Zealand politician, lawyer, and unionist. He died in the 1918 influenza epidemic. He served as the first leader of the modern New Zealand Labour Party.
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Wellington Central is an electorate, represented by a Member of Parliament in the New Zealand House of Representatives. The current MP for Wellington Central is Tamatha Paul of the Green Party. She has held this position since the 2023 general election.
Robert Fletcher was a New Zealand politician of the Liberal Party.
James Wright Munro was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.
Grey Lynn is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate, in the city of Auckland. It existed from 1902 to 1978, and was represented by nine Members of Parliament.
Matthew Joseph Mack was a New Zealand railway worker and trade unionist.
Michael John Reardon was a New Zealand political activist.
The 1945 Dunedin North by-election was a by-election held during the 27th New Zealand Parliament in the Dunedin electorate of Dunedin North. The by-election occurred following the death of MP James W. Munro and was won by Robert Walls.
Thomas Brindle was a New Zealand activist for the New Zealand Labour Party who was jailed during World War I for speaking out against conscription. He was a member of Wellington City Council and stood for election to the House of Representatives five times. He was a member of the Legislative Council from 1936 until March 1950.
The Wellington North by-election of 1918 was a by-election held in the Wellington North electorate during the 19th New Zealand Parliament, on 12 February 1918. It was caused by the resignation of incumbent MP Alexander Herdman of the Reform Party, who was appointed as a judge of the Supreme Court, and was won by John Luke with a majority of 420.
John Read was a New Zealand politician and trade unionist.
In April 1912 and July 1913, two "unity conferences" were held to discuss and determine the future of organised labour in New Zealand. The events mainly centred around the debate over whether industrial action or political activity should be the means of achieving the aims of workers and additionally to unite the "moderate" and "militant" factions within the labour movement. Whilst neither conference fully unified the labour movement, it laid a framework of co-operation that would later assist during the creation of the current New Zealand Labour Party in 1916.
