1901 Wellington City mayoral election

The 1901 Wellington City mayoral election was part of the New Zealand local elections held that same year. In 1901, elections were held for the Mayor of Wellington plus other local government positions including twelve city councillors. John Aitken, the incumbent Mayor, was re-elected to office as Mayor of Wellington, beating Thomas Wilford. The polling was conducted using the standard first-past-the-post electoral method.

1901 Wellington City mayoral election

← 1899 25 April 1901 1902 →
Turnout	8,533 (62.46%)
Candidate John Aitken Thomas Wilford Party Independent Independent Popular vote 5,801 2,732 Percentage 67.98 32.02
Mayor before election John Aitken Elected mayor John Aitken

Background

Electoral reforms were implemented in 1901, which extended the municipal term for councillors to biennial terms and saw the abolition of the ward system, implementing the process of electing councillors at large instead.^[1] Under the Municipal Corporations Act, 1900 mayors were still to be elected annually and fixed elections to the last Wednesday in April (rather than in November). The Act delayed the introduction of the new system until April 1901 meaning there was no mayoral election in 1900.^[2]

Mayoralty results

1901 Wellington mayoral election^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	John Aitken	5,801	67.98	+16.65
	Independent	Thomas Wilford	2,732	32.02
Majority			3,069	35.96	+14.96
Turnout			8,533	62.46	+23.06

Councillor results

1901 Wellington City Council election^[3][4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	David Nathan	5,847	86.51
	Independent	John Luke	5,316	78.66
	Independent	William Henry Peter Barber	5,170	76.50
	Independent	William Evans	5,074	75.08
	Independent	George Winder	5,056	74.81
	Independent	Matthew Murdoch	4,424	65.46
	Independent	John Smith Jr.	4,315	63.85
	Independent	James Devine	4,127	61.06
	Independent	Charles Hayward Izard	3,908	57.82
	Independent	James Godber	3,744	55.40
	Independent	Robert Tolhurst	3,640	53.86
	Labour	David McLaren	3,210	47.49
	Independent	Robert McKenzie	3,035	44.90
	Independent	Frederic Townsend	2,955	43.72
	Independent	George Anderson	2,755	40.76
	Independent	Allan Orr	2,699	39.93
	Independent	Paul Coffey	2,491	36.86
	Independent	Robert Davenport	2,236	33.08
	Independent	Frederick Bolton	2,189	32.39
	Independent	Henry Fielder	2,084	30.83
	Independent	Edmond Carrigan	2,033	30.08
	Labour	Alfred Hindmarsh	2,028	30.00
	Independent	Alexander Rand	1,464	21.66
	Independent	Alexander Wilson	1,299	19.22

Notes

1. Betts 1970, pp. 39.
2. "Municipal Corporations Act 1900". New Zealand Parliament. 1900. Retrieved 17 July 2023.
3. "Wellington City Council". The Free Lance. Vol. I, no. 43. 27 April 1901. p. 11. Retrieved 11 March 2016.
4. "City Council Election". The Evening Post. Vol. LXI, no. 94. 23 April 1901. p. 6. Retrieved 12 August 2016.

References

• Betts, George (1970). Betts on Wellington: A City and its Politics. Wellington: A. H. & A. W. Reed Ltd. ISBN 0 589 00469 7.