The New Zealand Constitution Act 1852 authorised the General Assembly to establish new electoral districts and to alter the boundaries of, or abolish, existing districts whenever this was deemed necessary. The rapid growth of New Zealand's European population in the early years of representative government (particularly in Otago) meant changes to electoral districts were implemented frequently, both at general elections, and on four occasions as supplementary elections within the lifetime of a parliament.
The Electoral Districts Act 1858 [1] established four new electorates; Marsden and Wairarapa in the North Island, and Cheviot and Wallace in the South Island. Elections were held from 7 November to 18 December 1859 during the term of the 2nd New Zealand Parliament and required redrawing of the electoral boundaries of Bay of Islands, Northern Division, Wairarapa and Hawke's Bay (renamed as County of Hawke), Wairau, Christchurch Country and Dunedin Country electorates.
The Wairarapa election was won unopposed by Charles Carter on 7 November 1859. [2]
The Marsden election was won by James Farmer on 29 November 1859.
On nomination day (21 November) James Farmer and John Munro were nominated, and after a show of hands in favour of Farmer, Munro demanded a poll. James Farmer was subsequently elected the following week, although voting figures are currently unknown. [3]
The Wallace election was won unopposed by Dillon Bell on 30 November 1859. [4]
The Cheviot election was won unopposed by Edward Jollie on 18 December 1859. [5]
The Representation Act 1862 [6] added two new electorates and four additional MPs to Otago Province in the South of the South Island. Gold Fields electorate was overlaid over the entire province, and the electorates of Bruce and City of Dunedin were substantially redrawn, with City of Dunedin disappearing and two new electorates, Dunedin and Suburbs North and Dunedin and Suburbs South replacing it. Elections were held from 28 March to 14 April 1863. All electorates before and after changes returned two members, with each of the previous incumbents in City of Dunedin being assigned an incumbency in one of the Dunedin Suburbs electorates although Thomas Dick resigned before taking up his entitlement in Dunedin and Suburbs North.
The Dunedin and Suburbs North election was won unopposed by John Richardson on 28 March 1863. [7]
The Dunedin and Suburbs South election was won by William Reynolds on 6 April 1863.
On nomination day (2 April) Reynolds, William Cutten and Julius Vogel were nominated, and after a show of hands in favour of Reynolds, Cutten and Vogel demanded a poll. Reynolds was subsequently elected the following week.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Independent | William Reynolds | 77 | 64.7 | ||
Independent | Julius Vogel | 31 | 26.1 | ||
Independent | William Cutten | 11 | 9.2 | ||
Turnout | 119 | ||||
Majority | 46 |
The Gold Fields election returned two members, and was won unopposed by William Baldwin and George Brodie on 14 April 1863. [9]
The Westland Representation Act 1867 [10] introduced changes to the Waimea and Westland electorates. Their areas were reassigned and four electorates formed. Waimea lost some area, but continued to exist. Westland was abolished in 1867. A new electorate Westland Boroughs (comprising the towns of Greymouth and Hokitika) was established, and the Act stipulated that the sitting Westland member, William Sefton Moorhouse, was transferred to it. Other new electorates, Westland North and Westland South held elections from 3–9 April 1868.
The Westland South election was won by Edmund Barff on 6 April 1868.
On nomination day (30 March) Barff and Charles Button were nominated, and after a show of hands in favour of Button, a poll was demanded. [11] Edmund Barff was subsequently elected the following week.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Independent | Edmund Barff | 355 | 51.7 | ||
Independent | Charles Button | 332 | 48.3 | ||
Turnout | 687 | ||||
Majority | 23 |
The Westland North election was won by Timothy Gallagher on 9 April 1868.
On nomination day (4 April) Gallagher, George Donne, and George Horne were nominated, and after a show of hands in favour of Horne, Donne demanded a poll. Timothy Gallagher was subsequently elected the following week.
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Independent | Timothy Gallagher | 597 | 67.0 | ||
Independent | George Horne | 270 | 30.3 | ||
Independent | George Donne | 24 | 2.7 | ||
Turnout | 891 | ||||
Majority | 327 |
The Maori Representation Act 1867 [16] established four electorates to represent the indigenous Māori population. The European (or General) electorates at the time only enfranchised adult males who were the owners of freehold or leasehold land, and as Māori land was generally communally owned under customary title this put them outside the definitions of the Constitution Act, and unable to register to vote. Elections to the four electorates; Eastern Maori, Northern Maori, Southern Maori and Western Maori were held on or around 15 April 1868.
The 2nd New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand. It opened on 15 April 1856, following New Zealand's 1855 election. It was dissolved on 5 November 1860 in preparation for 1860–61 election. The 2nd Parliament was the first under which New Zealand had responsible government, meaning that unlike previously, the Cabinet was chosen by Parliament rather than by the Governor-General of New Zealand.
The 1887 New Zealand general election was held on 26 September to elect 95 MPs to the tenth session of the New Zealand Parliament. The Māori vote was held on 7 September. 175,410 votes were cast. In 5 seats there was only one candidate.
The 1890 New Zealand general election was one of New Zealand's most significant. It marked the beginning of party politics in New Zealand with the formation of the Liberal Government, which was to enact major welfare, labour and electoral reforms, including giving the vote to women.
An electorate or electoral district is a geographic constituency used for electing a member (MP) to the New Zealand Parliament. The size of electorates is determined such that all electorates have approximately the same electoral population.
Dunedin North is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate, which returned one Member of Parliament (MP) to the New Zealand House of Representatives. It was established for the 1905 election and has existed since. It was last held by David Clark of the New Zealand Labour Party, who replaced the long-standing representative Pete Hodgson. It was considered a safe Labour seat, with Labour holding the seat for all but one term (1975–1978) since 1928. In the 2020 electoral boundary review, Otago Peninsula was added to the area to address a population quota shortfall; with this change the electorate was succeeded by the Dunedin electorate in the 2020 election.
Otago was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate first created for the 1978 election, which was replaced by the Waitaki electorate and Clutha-Southland electorates for the 2008 election. Its last representative was Jacqui Dean of the National Party.
Te Tai Tonga is a New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand House of Representatives. It was established for the 1996 general election, replacing Southern Maori. It covers all of the South Island, Stewart Island, the Chatham Islands, and parts of both Wellington City and the Hutt Valley. The current MP for Te Tai Tonga is Tākuta Ferris of Te Pāti Māori.
The Gold Fields District electorate was a 19th-century parliamentary electorate in the Otago region, New Zealand. It was created in 1862, with the first elections in the following year, and it returned two members. It was one of eventually three special interest constituencies created to meet the needs of gold miners. All three of these electorates were abolished in 1870. A unique feature of the Gold Fields District was that it was superimposed over other electorates, and voting was open to those who had held a mining license for some time. As such, suffrage was more relaxed than elsewhere in New Zealand, as voting was otherwise tied to property ownership. Another feature unique to the gold mining electorates was that no electoral rolls were prepared, but voting could be done upon showing a complying miner's license.
Westland Boroughs was a parliamentary electorate in the West Coast of New Zealand from 1866 to 1870.
Westland North was a parliamentary electorate on the West Coast of New Zealand from 1868 to 1870.
Westland South was a parliamentary electorate on the West Coast of New Zealand from 1868 to 1870.
City of Dunedin, during the first two parliaments called Town of Dunedin, was a parliamentary electorate in Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand. It was one of the original electorates created in 1853 and existed, with two breaks, until 1905. The first break, from 1862 to 1866, was caused by an influx of people through the Otago gold rush, when many new electorates were formed in Otago. The second break occurred from 1881 to 1890. It was the only New Zealand electorate that was created as a single-member, two-member and three member electorate.
Dunedin and Suburbs North was a parliamentary electorate in the city of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand from 1863 to 1866. It was a multi-member electorate.
Dunedin and Suburbs South was a parliamentary electorate in the city of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand from 1862 to 1866. From 1863 it was a multi-member electorate.
James Paterson was a 19th-century Member of Parliament in Otago, New Zealand. He was a cabinet minister, and on the Legislative Council.
The 3rd New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand. Elections for this term were held between 12 December 1860 and 28 March 1861 in 43 electorates to elect 53 MPs. Two electorates were added to this during this term, Gold Fields District and a new Dunedin electorate created by splitting the existing City of Dunedin into Dunedin and Suburbs North and Dunedin and Suburbs South, increasing the number of MPs to 57. During the term of this Parliament, six Ministries were in power.
The 4th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand.
The 8th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the New Zealand Parliament.
The 10th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand. Elections for this term were held in 4 Māori electorates and 91 European electorates on 7 and 26 September 1887, respectively. A total of 95 MPs were elected. Parliament was prorogued in October 1890. During the term of this Parliament, two Ministries were in power.