Buller (New Zealand electorate)

Buller is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate, from 1871 to 1972. It was represented by eleven Members of Parliament.

Population centres

The 1870 electoral redistribution was undertaken by a parliamentary select committee based on population data from the 1867 New Zealand census. Eight sub-committees were formed, with two members each making decisions for their own province; thus members set their own electorate boundaries. The number of electorates was increased from 61 to 72, and Buller was one of the new electorates.^[1] The Buller electorate was created from areas that previously belonged to the Waimea and Westland electorates.^[2] Settlements located in the initial electorate area were Westport, Inangahua Junction, and Reefton.^[3] For the 1879 election, polling booths were in Westport, Charleston, Brighton, Addison's, Waimangaroa, Inangahua Junction, Lyell, and Karamea.^[4]

History

The electorate's first representative was Eugene O'Conor, who was successful in the 1871 election, but he was defeated at the next election in 1876 by Joseph Henry.^[5] Henry in turn was defeated by James Bickerton Fisher^[6] at the 1879 election.^[7] Fisher retired at the end of the parliamentary term in 1881.^[8]

Fisher was succeeded by John Munro, who won the 1881 election.^[9] Munro was defeated at the next election in 1884 by Eugene O'Conor, who thus started his second period of representation.^[10] O'Conor, who joined the Liberal Party, was beaten in 1893 election by Roderick McKenzie.^[11] In the 1896 election, McKenzie successfully stood in the Motueka electorate.^[12]

Patrick O'Regan won the 1896 election in the Buller electorate.^[13] At the 1899 election, he was defeated by James Colvin, who held the electorate until his death in 1919.^[14]

From 1919 the Buller electorate was represented by two radical trade unionists from the coal mines of the West Coast, Harry Holland and Paddy Webb. Harry Holland and then Jerry Skinner died in office.

In 1972, the electorate was split into the West Coast and Tasman electorates.

Members of Parliament

The Buller electorate was represented by eleven MPs:

Key

  Independent   Liberal   Independent Liberal   Labour

Election	Winner
1871 election		Eugene O'Conor
1876 election		Joseph Henry
1879 election		James Bickerton Fisher
1881 election		John Munro
1884 election		Eugene O'Conor
1887 election
1890 election
1893 election		Roderick McKenzie
1896 election		Patrick O'Regan
1899 election		James Colvin
1902 election
1905 election
1908 election
1911 election
1914 election
1919 election		Harry Holland
1922 election
1925 election
1928 election
1931 election
1933 by-election		Paddy Webb
1935 election
1938 election
1943 election
1946 election		Jerry Skinner
1949 election
1951 election
1954 election
1957 election
1960 election
1962 by-election		Bill Rowling
1963 election
1966 election
1969 election
(Electorate abolished 1972; see Tasman and West Coast)

Election results

1969 election

1969 general election: Buller^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bill Rowling	8,319	53.36	+5.00
	National	Ernie King	5,497	35.25	+0.58
	Social Credit	D L Hodgkinson	1,774	11.37
Majority			2,822	18.10	+4.57
Turnout			15,590	87.67	−0.31
Registered electors			17,782

1966 election

1966 general election: Buller^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bill Rowling	6,510	48.36	−3.92
	National	Ernie King	4,668	34.67	−5.70
	Social Credit	W P B Dobier	2,286	16.97
Majority			1,822	13.53	+1.63
Turnout			13,464	87.98	−2.93
Registered electors			15,303

1963 election

1963 general election: Buller^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bill Rowling	7,338	52.28	+7.30
	National	Ernie King	5,667	40.37	+1.21
	Social Credit	E Wells	1,033	7.35
Majority			1,671	11.90	+8.50
Turnout			14,038	90.91	+11.51
Registered electors			15,440

1962 by-election

1962 Buller by-election^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bill Rowling	5,242	44.98
	National	Ernie King	4,846	41.58	+5.58
	Social Credit	P. H. Matthews	1,566	13.44	−1.36
Majority			396	3.40
Informal votes			37	0.32
Turnout			11,691	79.40	−12.70
Registered electors			14,724
	Labour hold		Swing

1960 election

1960 general election: Buller^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jerry Skinner	6,380	47.58	−3.11
	National	Ernie King	4,834	36.05
	Social Credit	P. H. Matthews	1,984	14.79	+5.70
	Independent	Oscar Bergh	210	1.56
Majority			1,546	11.53	−6.41
Turnout			13,408	91.48	−1.05
Registered electors			14,656

1957 election

1957 general election: Buller^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jerry Skinner	7,563	50.69	−7.07
	National	Norman Leon Bensemann	4,886	32.74
	Social Credit	P. H. Matthews	1,357	9.09
Majority			2,677	17.94	−7.63
Turnout			13,806	92.53	+2.00
Registered electors			14,920

1954 election

1954 general election: Buller^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jerry Skinner	7,559	57.76	+3.11
	National	Derisly Manwell Carson	4,211	32.17
	Social Credit	W T Eggleston	1,319	10.07
Majority			3,348	25.57	+16.28
Turnout			13,089	90.53	+4.53
Registered electors			14,458

1951 election

1951 general election: Buller^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jerry Skinner	7,215	54.65	−3.42
	National	Phil McDonald	5,988	45.35	+3.42
Majority			1,227	9.29	−6.84
Turnout			13,203	86.00	−6.31
Registered electors			15,352

1949 election

1949 general election: Buller^[16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jerry Skinner	7,941	58.07	−2.71
	National	Phil McDonald	5,735	41.93	+2.71
Majority			2,206	16.13	−5.42
Turnout			13,676	92.31	−2.57
Registered electors			14,814

1946 election

1946 general election: Buller^[17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Jerry Skinner	8,211	60.78
	National	Phil McDonald	5,299	39.22
Majority			2,912	21.55
Turnout			13,510	94.88
Registered electors			14,239

1933 by-election

1933 Buller by-election^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paddy Webb	4,799	68.10
	Liberal–Labour	H. Ian Simson	2,249	31.90
Informal votes			343	4.86	+3.14
Majority			2,550	36.18
Turnout			7,048	71.36	−17.66

1931 election

1931 general election: Buller^[19]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harry Holland	6,136	71.01
	Reform	John Menzies[20]	2,505	28.99
Majority			3,631	42.02
Informal votes			151	1.72
Turnout			8,792	89.02
Registered electors			9,876

1928 election

1928 general election: Buller^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harry Holland	5,988	70.33	+11.12
	Reform	Dugald Macdonald Robertson	2,371	27.85
Majority			3,617	42.48	+23.20
Informal votes			154	1.80	+0.95
Turnout			8,513	90.84	−3.08
Registered electors			9,371

1925 election

1925 general election: Buller^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harry Holland	4,704	59.21	−0.59
	Reform	C S Bielby	3,172	39.92
Majority			1,532	19.28	−1.60
Informal votes			68	0.85	−0.45
Turnout			7,944	93.92	+2.12
Registered electors			8,458

1922 election

1922 general election: Buller^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harry Holland	4,413	59.80	+2.10
	Reform	John Menzies	2,872	38.91
Majority			1,541	20.88	+4.56
Informal votes			94	1.27	+0.36
Turnout			7,379	91.80	−1.31
Registered electors			8,038

1919 election

1919 general election: Buller^[24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Harry Holland	3,545	57.70
	Liberal	Denis Quinlan O'Brien	2,542	41.38
Majority			1,003	16.32
Informal votes			56	0.91	−0.45
Turnout			6,143	93.11	+11.81
Registered electors			6,597

1914 election

1914 general election^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	James Colvin	3,594	67.00
	Reform	George Powell	1,399	26.08
	Social Democrat	Hugh Gillen	371	6.91
Majority			2,195	40.92
Informal votes			73	1.36
Turnout			5,364	81.30
Registered electors			6,597

1899 election

1899 general election: Buller^[26]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Liberal	James Colvin	2,846	55.37
	Liberal	Patrick O'Regan	2,294	44.63
Majority			552	10.74
Turnout			5,140	87.68
Registered electors			5,862

1893 election

1893 general election: Buller^[27]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Roderick McKenzie	1,817	53.11
	Independent	Eugene O'Conor	1,604	46.89
Majority			213	6.23
Turnout			3,421	84.39
Registered electors			4,054

1879 election

1879 general election: Buller^[4][28]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	James Bickerton Fisher	410	55.56
	Independent	Joseph Henry	328	44.44
Majority			82	11.11
Informal votes			19	2.51
Turnout			757	66.00
Registered electors			1,147

Notes

1. McRobie 1989, p. 39.
2. McRobie 1989, pp. 37, 41.
3. McRobie 1989, p. 41.
4. "Buller District Election". Westport Times. Vol. XIII, no. 1728. 16 September 1879. p. 2. Retrieved 10 March 2019.
5. Wilson 1985, pp. 204, 224.
6. The Cyclopedia Company Limited, ed. (1906). "Former Members Of The House Of Representatives". The Cyclopedia of New Zealand - Nelson, Marlborough & Westland Provincial Districts. Christchurch. Retrieved 6 March 2010.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
7. Wilson 1985, pp. 196, 204.
8. Wilson 1985, p. 196.
9. Wilson 1985, p. 222.
10. Wilson 1985, pp. 222, 224.
11. Wilson 1985, pp. 216, 224.
12. Wilson 1985, p. 216.
13. Wilson 1985, p. 224.
14. Wilson 1985, pp. 190, 224.
15. Norton 1988, p. 204.
16. "The General Election, 1949". National Library. 1950. pp. 1–5, 8. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
17. "The General Election, 1946". National Library. 1947. pp. 1–11, 14. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
18. "Buller By-Election". The Press. Vol. LXIX, no. 21026. 30 November 1933. p. 8. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
19. The General Election, 1931. Government Printer. 1932. p. 2. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
20. "Buller Electorate". The Evening Post. Vol. CXII, no. 127. 25 November 1931. p. 10. Retrieved 8 November 2014.
21. Skinner, W. A. G. (1929). The General Election, 1928. Government Printer. Retrieved 4 December 2013.
22. The General Election, 1925. Government Printer. 1926. p. 2. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
23. The General Election, 1922. Government Printer. 1923. p. 2. Retrieved 28 August 2016.
24. Hislop, J. (1921). The General Election, 1919. National Library. pp. 1–6. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
25. Hislop, J. (1915). The General Election, 1914. National Library. pp. 1–33. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
26. "The General Election, 1899". Wellington: Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives. 19 June 1900. p. 2. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
27. "The General Election, 1893". National Library. 1894. p. 2. Retrieved 26 March 2014.
28. McRobie 1989, p. 44.

References

• McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN 0-477-01384-8.
• Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand parliamentary election results, 1946–1987. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington Department of Political Science. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.