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The Dunedin Country by-election 1858 was a by-election held in the multi-member Dunedin Country electorate during the 2nd New Zealand Parliament, on 16 June 1858. The by-election was caused by the resignation of incumbent MP John Cargill and was won by John Taylor.
The Dunedin Country electorate was one of the original 24 parliamentary electorates of New Zealand from 1853, and it was one of the two-member electorates. [1] John Cargill was one of the original representatives of the Dunedin Country electorate, and he again won election in 1855; the second representative in 1855 was his father, William Cargill. [2] Cargill Jr. was one of many members of the House of Representatives who resigned prior to the second session of the 2nd New Zealand Parliament. The house had not been convened in 1857 [3] and Cargill placed an advertisement in the Otago Witness on 12 September 1857, announcing his intention of handing in his resignation. [4] [5] [6] At the opening of the second session of the 2nd Parliament on 10 April 1858, [7] the speaker read out 14 resignations, including that of Cargill. [8]
The Otago Witness discussed various potential candidates for the by-election prior to the nomination meeting. William Henry Teschemaker was known to have declined to be elected; [9] he would later in the year be elected to Northern electorate of the Otago Provincial Council. [10] [11] The intentions of Alexander Chalmers were unknown. [9] It was speculated that William Henry Valpy, Jr. would accept to be the representative. It was also known that John Taylor was interested in standing, but the Otago Witness had a strong dislike to him, as he frequently moved to new towns and had only been in Otago for a short time. [9] A week later, the next edition of the Otago Witness discussed Taylor and Valpy as the only candidates who would contest the election; it was stated that both had no prior political experience. [12] Valpy had, however, not offered himself for election, whilst Taylor had addressed the electors at a meeting. At the meeting, Taylor confirmed his political independence and inexperience: [13]
I must, however, distinctly state that, as I have hitherto but very superficially studied New Zealand politics, if elected, I go to the Assembly entirely unfettered by any pledge, excepting to oppose Dr. Menzies ' proposal for the division of the Province.
Dr Menzies was a settler near the later town of Wyndham, and he was the leader of the Southland separatist movement, the initiative to split the Southland Province off from the Otago Province. [14]
The nomination meeting was held at the Dunedin court house on Tuesday, 15 June at noon. [15] John Gillies, the father of John Lillie Gillies, acted as the returning officer. [15] John Taylor was proposed by Edward McGlashan and seconded by Dr William Purdie. [16] [17] As no other candidates were proposed, the returning officer was just about to declare Taylor elected unopposed when several electors asked to be informed of Taylor's political opinions, and questions to that effect were put to him. The returning officer was unsure how to proceed, when William Cutten proposed to nominate a pro forma candidate so that the candidates are given the opportunity to state their attitudes to important political questions. To that end, Cutten proposed and G. Smith seconded Peter Murdoch Napier, a runholder and one of the original explorers of the Maniototo. [16] [18]
Taylor and Napier then addressed the electors and answered questions. Their views differed on one issue only; whilst Napier favoured the introduction of the secret ballot, Taylor wanted to retain the status quo where electors would tell the returning officer their choice of favoured candidate, i.e. oral voting. [16] Napier stated that he had not intended to be a candidate until proposed by Cutten. [16] After a show of hands in favour of Taylor, Napier demanded a poll. [19]
The poll was held the following day from 12 noon. Taylor won the Dunedin polling booth by 51 votes to 20. The results from the outlying polling booths came in the following day, and at 12 noon on Friday, 18 June 1858, the returning officer declared Taylor elected. [16]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Independent | John Taylor | 73 | 61.3 | ||
| Independent | Peter Napier | 46 | 38.7 | ||
| Turnout | 119 | ||||
| Majority | 27 | ||||
Despite the promises that he made to the electors, Taylor assisted in bringing in the New Provinces Act, which constituted Southland as a separate provincial district. This brought him into conflict with many of his constituents, and he chose to retire from parliament at the end of the electoral term in 1860. [20] [21] The Dunedin Country electorate was abolished at the same time. [22] The separation of Southland from the Otago Province went ahead in March 1861, and Menzies was elected its first Superintendent, succeeded by Taylor in 1865. [14] [23] The secret ballot was introduced in 1870, and first used in the 1871 election. [24]
John Cargill was a New Zealand politician and runholder.
William Henry Cutten was a New Zealand politician from the Otago region.
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.
Waitaki is an electorate for the New Zealand House of Representatives that crosses the boundary of North Otago and South Canterbury towns on the East Coast of the South Island. The electorate was first established for the 1871 election that determined the 5th New Zealand Parliament. It has been abolished and re-established several times and in its early years was a two-member electorate for two parliamentary terms. The current electorate has existed since the 2008 election and is held by Miles Anderson of the National Party.
John Parkin Taylor was a 19th-century New Zealand runholder, and a politician in Otago and Southland. In his early life, Taylor lived in various countries and studied languages in Germany. He worked as a merchant and was married when he returned to England. Taylor's family emigrated to New Zealand in 1849 and he was a sheep farmer in various parts of the South Island before finally settling on a run near Riverton in Southland, where he had his homestead 'Waldeck' built. He entered the House of Representatives for the Dunedin Country electorate through a by-election in 1858 but fell out with many of his constituents over a broken election promise, as he helped the Southland Province to break away from the Otago Province. He eventually became Southland's second Superintendent and served from 1865 to 1869, and also represented an electorate on the Southland Provincial Council for a few months. In 1865, he was appointed to the New Zealand Legislative Council and with one break in membership due to non-attendance, he remained a member until his death. He served for one year as mayor of Riverton (1872–73) but did not stand again due to poor health. Taylor had a painful illness and died in 1875.
Bruce was a rural parliamentary electorate in the Otago region of New Zealand, from 1861 to 1922. For part of the 1860s with the influx to Otago of gold-miners it was a multi-member constituency with two members.
Chalmers, originally Port Chalmers, was a parliamentary electorate in the Otago Region of New Zealand, from 1866 to 1938 with a break from 1896 to 1902. It was named after the town of Port Chalmers, the main port of Dunedin and Otago.
Caversham was a parliamentary electorate in the city of Dunedin in the Otago region of New Zealand, from 1866 to 1908.
Taieri is a parliamentary electorate in the Otago region of New Zealand, initially from 1866 to 1911, and was later recreated during the 2019/20 electoral redistribution ahead of the 2020 election.
Dunedin Country was a parliamentary electorate in the rural area surrounding the city of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand, from 1853 to 1860. It was a two-member electorate and was represented by a total of five members of parliament.
Edward Bowes Cargill was a 19th-century businessman and Member of Parliament in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. He was the Mayor of Dunedin from 1897 to 1898.
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 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.
Roslyn was a parliamentary electorate in the city of Dunedin in the Otago region of New Zealand from 1866 to 1890.
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.
Samuel Edward Shrimski was a 19th-century Member of Parliament and then a Member of the Legislative Council from Otago, New Zealand.
John Hyde Harris was a 19th-century New Zealand politician. Born in England, he came to Dunedin as a young man and practised as a lawyer, and was then a judge. He entered provincial politics and was elected as the fourth Superintendent of the Otago Province. He then became Mayor of Dunedin and was called to the Legislative Council. He played one first-class cricket match during the 1865–66 season.
The Dunedin Country by-election 1860 was a by-election held in the multi-member Dunedin Country electorate during the 2nd New Zealand Parliament. The by-election was caused by the resignation of incumbent MP William Cargill. The nomination meeting was held on 28 March and as Thomas Gillies was the only person proposed, he was declared elected unopposed.
The Bruce by-election 1862 was a by-election held in the multi-member Bruce electorate during the 3rd New Zealand Parliament, on 31 July 1862. The by-election was caused by the death of incumbent MP Charles Kettle on 5 June, and was won by Edward Cargill.
The April 1865 Bruce by-election was a New Zealand by-election held in the multi-member electorate of Bruce during the 3rd New Zealand Parliament on 8 April 1865. It was triggered on 9 January that year by the resignation of separationist Thomas Gillies and won by prominent settler Arthur John Burns. The more liberal businessman William John Dyer was the sole other contester of the by-election, finishing with 43.33% of the vote.
