July 1900 Canterbury colonial by-election

A by-election for the seat of Canterbury in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly was held on 28 July 1900 because the Elections and Qualifications Committee declared that the election of Sydney Smith, with a margin of 5 votes, at the by-election in June was void because of irregularities the way the returning officer dealt with unused ballot papers and that people had voted who did not have an elector's right at the time the writ was issued.^[1][2]

Dates

Date	Event
9 June 1900	Canterbury by-election.[3]
10 July 1900	Thomas Taylor filed a petition against the election.[4]
16 July 1900	Canterbury by-election declared void.[2]
18 July 1900	Writ of election issued by the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly.[5]
25 July 1900	Day of nomination
28 July 1900	Polling day
7 August 1900	Return of writ

Results

1900 Canterbury colonial by-election
Saturday 28 July ^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Thomas Taylor	861	51.4
	Liberal Reform	Sydney Smith [lower-alpha 1]	814	48.6
Total formal votes			1,675	98.9
Informal votes			19	1.1
Turnout			1,694	50.7 [lower-alpha 2]
	Independent gain from Liberal Reform

See also

• Electoral results for the district of Canterbury
• List of New South Wales state by-elections

Notes

1. Party labels are difficult to define in 1900, with the Free Trade Party transforming into the Liberal Reform Party.^[1]
2. estimate based on an electoral roll of 3,340 at June 1900.^[3]

References

1. Green, Antony. "July 1900 Canterbury by-election". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
2. "The close contest at Canterbury: the election declared null and void". The Sydney Morning Herald. 17 July 1900. p. 8. Retrieved 12 September 2020 – via Trove.
3. Green, Antony. "June 1900 Canterbury by-election". New South Wales Election Results 1856-2007. Parliament of New South Wales. Retrieved 28 September 2019.
4. "Petition against the election of Sydney Smith". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 689. 12 July 1900. pp. 5409–10. Retrieved 11 September 2020 – via Trove.
5. "Writ of election: Canterbury". New South Wales Government Gazette. No. 712. 18 July 1900. p. 5575. Retrieved 28 September 2019 – via Trove.