Wellington South (New Zealand electorate)

For the former Canadian electoral district, see Wellington South.

Wellington South is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate. It existed for two periods between 1881 and 1946. It was represented by seven Members of Parliament.

Population centres

The previous electoral redistribution was undertaken in 1875 for the 1875–1876 election. In the six years since, New Zealand's European population had increased by 65%. In the 1881 electoral redistribution, the House of Representatives increased the number of European representatives to 91 (up from 84 since the 1875–76 election). The number of Māori electorates was held at four. The House further decided that electorates should not have more than one representative, which led to 35 new electorates being formed, including Wellington South, and two electorates that had previously been abolished to be recreated. This necessitated a major disruption to existing boundaries.^[1]

The electorate was in the southern suburbs of Wellington. It was east of the Foxton and Te Aro electorates, and included Miramar Peninsula.^[2] In the 1887 electoral redistribution, the electorate was abolished again and replaced Wellington East for the more densely populated area, and by Wellington South and Suburbs for the more rural parts.^[3]

History

The first representative was William Hutchison, who was elected in 1881.^[4] In the 1884 election, Hutchison was defeated by George Fisher.^[5] When Wellington South was abolished in 1887, Fisher transferred to Wellington East.^[6]

It was then re-created in 1908 and abolished in 1946. It was largely replaced by the Island Bay electorate,^[2] to which Robert McKeen transferred.^[7]

Election results

Wellington South was represented by seven Members of Parliament.^[8]

Key

Independent	Labour	Labour (1910)
United Labour	Independent Liberal	Labour

Election	Winner
1881 election		William Hutchison
1884 election		George Fisher
(Electorate abolished 1887–1908)
1908 election		Robert Wright
1911 election		Alfred Hindmarsh
1914 election
1918 by-election		Bob Semple
1919 election		George Mitchell
1922 election		Robert McKeen
1925 election
1928 election
1931 election
1935 election
1938 election
1943 election
(Electorate abolished in 1946, see Island Bay)

Election results

1943 election

1943 general election: Wellington Suburbs^[9][10][11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert McKeen	8,091	59.36
	National	Ernest Toop	3,935	28.87
	Democratic Labour	Charlie Teece	1,269	9.31
	Independent	Terrence Maddison	209	1.53
Majority			4,156	30.49
Turnout			13,630	88.74
Registered electors			15,359

1935 election

1935 general election: Wellington South^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert McKeen	8,170	67.35	+5.79
	Reform	Henry Toogood[13]	2,111	17.40
	Democrat	Joseph Isaac Goldsmith	1,849	15.24
Informal votes			68	0.56	+0.20
Majority			6,059	49.95	+26.83
Turnout			12,130	87.17	+5.86
Registered electors			13,914

1931 election

1931 general election: Wellington South^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert McKeen	7,081	61.56	+10.02
	United	Will Appleton	4,422	38.44
Informal votes			42	0.36	−0.76
Majority			2,659	23.12	−2.32
Turnout			11,545	81.31	−6.71
Registered electors			14,198

1928 election

1928 general election: Wellington South^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert McKeen	5,984	51.54
	Reform	Martin Luckie	3,031	26.11
	United	John Burns	2,595	22.35
Majority			2,953	25.43
Informal votes			132	1.12
Turnout			11,742	88.03
Registered electors			13,339

1918 by-election

1918 Wellington South by-election^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bob Semple	2,412	60.45
	Reform	George Frost[17]	1,181	29.60
	Independent	John Castle[17]	397	9.95
Majority			1,231	30.85
Turnout			3,990

1914 election

1914 general election^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United Labour	Alfred Hindmarsh	4,279	56.12	+4.36
	Reform	John Luke	3,064	40.18
	Independent	Robert Bradford Williams	221	2.89
Majority			1,215	15.93
Informal votes			60	0.78
Turnout			7,624	86.29
Registered electors			8,835

1911 election

1911 general election: Second ballot^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Alfred Hindmarsh	3,598	51.76	+14.62
	Reform	Robert Wright	3,344	48.10	+6.73
Majority			254	3.65
Informal votes			9	0.12	−1.18
Turnout			6,951	76.66	−2.61

1911 general election: First ballot^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform	Robert Wright	2,974	41.37
	Labour	Alfred Hindmarsh	2,670	37.14
	Liberal	William Henry Peter Barber	1,264	17.58
	Independent	Albert Couzens	185	2.57
Informal votes			95	1.32
Turnout			7,188	79.27
Registered electors			9,067

Notes

1. McRobie 1989, pp. 43–48.
2. McRobie 1989, p. 46.
3. McRobie 1989, pp. 46, 50.
4. Wilson 1985, p. 207.
5. Wilson 1985, pp. 196, 207.
6. Wilson 1985, p. 196.
7. Wilson 1985, p. 215.
8. Wilson 1985, p. 276.
9. "The General Election, 1943". National Library. 1944. p. 11. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
10. "Results from all Electorates". Evening Post. Vol. CXXXVI, no. 76. 27 September 1943. p. 6. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
11. "City Nominations". Evening Post. Vol. CXXXVI, no. 61. 9 September 1943. p. 9. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
12. The General Election, 1935. National Library. 1936. pp. 1–35. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
13. "Toogood, Henry Featherston, (1879–1962)". Engineering New Zealand. Retrieved 15 October 2017.
14. The General Election, 1931. Government Printer. 1932. p. 5. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
15. Skinner, W. A. G. (1929). The General Election, 1928. Government Printer. p. 5. Retrieved 27 February 2020.
16. "By-election Results". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. LV, no. 17038. 20 December 1918. p. 4. Retrieved 24 August 2015.
17. "By-Elections". The Press. Vol. LIV, no. 16391. 10 December 1918. p. 7. Retrieved 24 December 2015.
18. Hislop, J. (1915). The General Election, 1914. National Library. pp. 1–33. Retrieved 8 January 2016.
19. "The General Election, 1911". National Library. 1912. pp. 1–14. Retrieved 1 August 2013.

References

• McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN 0-477-01384-8.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.