Timaru (New Zealand electorate)

Timaru is a former New Zealand Parliamentary electorate, in the South Island. It existed continuously from 1861 to 1996 and was represented by eleven Members of Parliament.

Population centres

In the 1860 electoral redistribution, the House of Representatives increased the number of representatives by 12, reflecting the immense population growth since the original electorates were established in 1853. The redistribution created 15 additional electorates with between one and three members, and Timaru was one of the single-member electorates.^[1] The electorates were distributed to provinces so that every province had at least two members. Within each province, the number of registered electors by electorate varied greatly.^[1] The Timaru electorate had 121 registered electors for the 1861 election.^[2]

The electorate is partly urban, and is based on the South Canterbury city of Timaru.

History

The electorate was formed in 1861 for the 3rd Parliament and existed continuously until the 1996 election.^[3]

Francis Jollie was the first representative. In the 1866 election, he successfully stood for Gladstone. Alfred Cox was the next representative, and he resigned in 1868 partway through the term. Edward Stafford won the resulting 1868 by-election. He represented the electorate for a decade and resigned in 1878.

Richard Turnbull won the 1878 by-election and represented Timaru until 1890, when he died on 17 July.^[4] He had contested the 1887 election against Edward George Kerr,^[5] the proprietor of the The Timaru Herald,^[6] and had won with a comfortable majority.^[7]

William Hall-Jones won the 1890 by-election. He became Prime Minister during his term, and retired in 1908.

James Craigie was the next representative, from the 1908 election. He retired in 1922. Craigie was succeeded by Frank Rolleston, who was defeated at the 1928 election.^[8]

From 1928 to 1985, the seat was held by two Labour MPs: Rev Clyde Carr a Christian minister who was a supporter of John A. Lee and remained a backbencher; and then Sir Basil Arthur a hereditary baronet and later Speaker of the House.

David Lange recalled in My Life (2005) the death of Sir Basil, and also that Labour lost the subsequent 1985 by-election when "the Labour Party organisation insisted on the selection of a candidate who could hardly be less suited to the place" and "was a good lawyer but she did not live in Timaru, and her opinions, and even her appearance, were at odds with the conservative character of the electorate." Jim Sutton won the seat back for Labour in 1993.

Members of Parliament

Key

Independent Independent Liberal Liberal Reform Labour National

Election	Winner
1861 election	width=5 rowspan=1 bgcolor=Template:Independent politician/meta/color \|	Francis Jollie
1866 election	rowspan=1 bgcolor=Template:Independent politician/meta/color \|	Alfred Cox
1868 by-election	rowspan=3 bgcolor=Template:Independent politician/meta/color \|	Edward Stafford
1871 election
1875 election
1878 by-election	rowspan=5 bgcolor=Template:Independent politician/meta/color \|	Richard Turnbull
1879 election
1881 election
1884 election
1887 election
1890 by-election	rowspan=1 bgcolor=Template:Independent politician/meta/color \|	William Hall-Jones
1890 election	rowspan=2 bgcolor=Template:Independent Liberal/meta/color \|
1893 election
1896 election	rowspan=4 bgcolor=Template:New Zealand Liberal Party/meta/color \|
1899 election
1902 election
1905 election
1908 election	rowspan=3 bgcolor=Template:New Zealand Liberal Party/meta/color \|	James Craigie
1911 election
1914 election
1919 election	rowspan=1 bgcolor=Template:Independent Liberal/meta/color \|
1922 election	rowspan=2 bgcolor=Template:New Zealand Reform Party/meta/color \|	Frank Rolleston
1925 election		Frank Rolleston
1928 election	rowspan=11 bgcolor=Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color \|	Clyde Carr
1931 election
1935 election
1938 election
1943 election
1946 election
1949 election
1951 election
1954 election
1957 election
1960 election
1962 by-election	rowspan=9 bgcolor=Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color \|	Basil Arthur
1963 election
1966 election
1969 election
1972 election
1975 election
1978 election
1981 election
1984 election
1985 by-election	rowspan=3 bgcolor=Template:New Zealand National Party/meta/color \|	Maurice McTigue
1987 election
1990 election
1993 election	rowspan=1 bgcolor=Template:New Zealand Labour Party/meta/color \|	Jim Sutton
(Electorate abolished 1996)

Election results

1985 by-election

1985 Timaru by-election^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Maurice McTigue	9,371	42.67	+4.22
	Labour	Jan Walker	7,879	35.88
	NZ Party	Bill Greenslade	2,998	13.65
	Social Credit	Lynley Simmons	1,628	7.41	+2.10
	Values	Jamie Luck	54	0.25
	Independent Labour	Alan Falloon	31	0.14
Majority			1,492	6.79
Informal votes			66	0.29
Turnout			22,027	89.99	−3.19
Registered electors			24,476
	National gain from Labour		Swing

1962 by-election

1962 Timaru by-election^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Sir Basil Arthur	7,578	52.55
	National	Derek Quigley	6,271	43.49
	Social Credit	Maurice Hayes	572	3.97
Majority			1,307	9.06
Informal votes			34	0.24
Turnout			14,455	83.79	−7.62
Registered electors			17,252
	Labour hold		Swing

1931 election

General election, 1931: Timaru^[11]^{[mb 1]}
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Clyde Carr	5,407	48.45	−3.74
	Reform	Herbert N. Armstrong^[12]	4,587	41.11
	United	Herbert Hall^[12]	1,165	10.44
Majority			820	7.35	+2.95
Informal votes			35	0.31	−1.68
Turnout			11,194	90.31	−1.45
Registered electors			12,395

Table footnotes:

^ The Reform and United parties could not agree on an official coalition candidate for the Timaru electorate, so neither Armstrong nor Hall were official candidates, and many sources show them as Independents

1899 election

General election, 1899: Timaru^[13]^[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	William Hall-Jones	3,091	77.68
	Independent Liberal	James Stephen Keith^{[nb 1]}	816	20.51
	Liberal	Joseph Mahoney^{[nb 2]}	72	1.81
Majority			2,275	57.18
Turnout			3,979	79.29
Registered electors			5,018

Table footnotes:

^ Note that in many newspapers, Keith is labelled as standing for the opposition
^ Mahoney was the Independent Labour candidate, which at the time were counted as part of the Liberal Party

1890 election

General election, 1890: Timaru^[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	William Hall-Jones	472	31.78
	Independent	Edward George Kerr^[6]	420	28.28
	Independent	Jeremiah Twomey	366	24.65
	Independent	Samuel Frederick Smithson	218	14.68
	Independent	Philip E Thoreau	9	0.61
Majority			52	3.50
Turnout			1,485	60.44
Registered electors			2,457

1890 by-election

1890 Timaru by-election^[16]^[17]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Liberal	William Hall-Jones	422	48.61
	Independent	Edward G. Kerr	344	39.63	−0.58
	Independent Labour	W F Alpin	88	10.13
Informal votes			14	1.61
Majority			78	8.98
Turnout			868	67.28	−0.27

Notes

^ ^a ^b McRobie 1989, p. 35.
^ McRobie 1989, p. 33.
^ Wilson 1985, p. 273.
^ Wilson 1985, p. 241.
^ "The Nominations". Ashburton Guardian. Vol. VII, no. 1667. 20 September 1887. p. 3. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
^ ^a ^b "History of The Timaru Herald". The Timaru Herald. 9 October 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2013.
^ "General Election". Poverty Bay Herald. Vol. XIV, no. 4977. 27 September 1887. p. 2. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
^ Rolleston 1971, p. 131.
^ Norton 1988, p. 363.
^ Norton 1988, p. 362.
^ The General Election, 1931. Government Printer. 1932. p. 5. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
^ ^a ^b Kerr, Stephen (2003). "Good Old Clyde": Clyde Carr M.P., Timaru and the Art of Incumbency, 1928–1962 (PDF) (Thesis). University of Canterbury. p. 66. Retrieved 16 December 2014.
^ "The General Election, 1899". Wellington: Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives. 19 June 1900. p. 1. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
^ "The General Election". Daily Telegraph. No. 9729. 30 November 1899. p. 4. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
^ "The General Election, 1890". National Library. 1891. p. 2. Retrieved 25 February 2012.
^ "The Timaru Seat - Result of the Election". The Press. Vol. XLVII, no. 7634. 19 August 1890. p. 5.
^ "The Timaru Seat". The Star. No. 6929. 12 August 1890. p. 3. Retrieved 14 April 2017.

References

Hall-Jones, Frederick G. (1969), Sir William Hall-Jones, the Last of the Old Liberals, Invercargill: Hall-Jones and Sons {{citation}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN 0-477-01384-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand parliamentary election results, 1946–1987. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington Department of Political Science. ISBN 0-475-11200-8. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Rolleston, Rosamund (1971). William & Mary Rolleston : An informal biography. Reed Publishing. ISBN 0-589-00621-5.
Scholefield, Guy (1950) [1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 (3rd ed.). Wellington: Govt. Printer. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)

[12] The Reform and United parties could not agree on an official coalition candidate for the Timaru electorate, so neither Armstrong nor Hall were official candidates, and many sources show them as Independents

[16] Note that in many newspapers, Keith is labelled as standing for the opposition

[17] Mahoney was the Independent Labour candidate, which at the time were counted as part of the Liberal Party

[FOOTNOTEMcRobie198935-1] McRobie 1989, p. 35.

[FOOTNOTEMcRobie198933-2] McRobie 1989, p. 33.

[FOOTNOTEWilson1985273-3] Wilson 1985, p. 273.

[FOOTNOTEWilson1985241-4] Wilson 1985, p. 241.

[Timaru_nominations,_1887-5] "The Nominations". Ashburton Guardian. Vol. VII, no. 1667. 20 September 1887. p. 3. Retrieved 19 May 2012.

[E_G_Kerr-6] "History of The Timaru Herald". The Timaru Herald. 9 October 2013. Retrieved 24 November 2013.

[7] "General Election". Poverty Bay Herald. Vol. XIV, no. 4977. 27 September 1887. p. 2. Retrieved 19 May 2012.

[FOOTNOTERolleston1971131-8] Rolleston 1971, p. 131.

[FOOTNOTENorton1988363-9] Norton 1988, p. 363.

[FOOTNOTENorton1988362-10] Norton 1988, p. 362.

[1931_election-11] The General Election, 1931. Government Printer. 1932. p. 5. Retrieved 2 November 2014.

[Good_Old_Clyde-13] Kerr, Stephen (2003). "Good Old Clyde": Clyde Carr M.P., Timaru and the Art of Incumbency, 1928–1962 (PDF) (Thesis). University of Canterbury. p. 66. Retrieved 16 December 2014.

[14] "The General Election, 1899". Wellington: Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives. 19 June 1900. p. 1. Retrieved 12 February 2014.

[15] "The General Election". Daily Telegraph. No. 9729. 30 November 1899. p. 4. Retrieved 25 February 2014.

[General_Election,_1890-18] "The General Election, 1890". National Library. 1891. p. 2. Retrieved 25 February 2012.

[Result_of_the_Election-19] "The Timaru Seat - Result of the Election". The Press. Vol. XLVII, no. 7634. 19 August 1890. p. 5.

[The_Timaru_Seat-20] "The Timaru Seat". The Star. No. 6929. 12 August 1890. p. 3. Retrieved 14 April 2017.

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