Eastern Maori

Eastern Maori was one of New Zealand's four original parliamentary Māori electorates established in 1868, along with Northern Maori, Western Maori and Southern Maori. In 1996, with the introduction of MMP, the Maori electorates were updated, and Eastern Maori was replaced with the Te Tai Rawhiti and Te Puku O Te Whenua electorates.

Population centres

The electorate included the population centres of Kawerau, Opotiki, Rotorua and Whakatane.

Tribal areas

The electorate included the tribal areas of Ngāti Awa, Te Arawa, Ngāi Tai, Te Whakatōhea and Ngāti Porou.

History

Eastern Maori included Rotorua and the Bay of Plenty, and the Poverty Bay area down to Gisborne. Originally the electorate extended down the East Coast and included the Wairarapa, but in 1954 the boundaries of the Southern Maori electorate were extended to include much of the East Coast of the North Island up to Napier and Wairoa in Hawke's Bay.

The first Member of Parliament for Eastern Maori was Tareha Te Moananui, elected in 1868; he was the first Māori MP to speak in Parliament, and he retired in 1870.

James Carroll represented the electorate from 1887 to 1893, but in 1893 he changed to the Waiapu electorate and was replaced by Wi Pere who Carroll had defeated in 1887.

In the 1949 election, the incumbent, Tiaki Omana of the Labour Party, was unsuccessfully challenged by National's Turi Carroll.^[1]

In the 1963 election, Puti Tipene Watene was elected. He was a Mormon and was the first non-Ratana to win a Maori seat since 1938.

With MMP Eastern Maori was replaced by the Te Tai Rawhiti electorate in 1996. Peter Tapsell, who had represented Eastern Maori since 1981 was defeated when he stood in the new electorate.

Members of Parliament

The Eastern Maori electorate was represented by ten Members of Parliament:^[2]

Key

  Independent   Liberal   United   National   Labour

Election	Winner
1868 Māori election		Tareha Te Moananui
1871 election		Karaitiana Takamoana
1876 election
1879 by-election		Henare Tomoana
1879 election
1881 election
1884 election		Wi Pere
1887 election		James Carroll
1890 election
1893 election		Wi Pere (2nd period)
1896 election
1899 election
1902 election
1905 election		Āpirana Ngata
1908 election
1911 election
1914 election
1919 election
1922 election
1925 election
1928 election
1931 election
1935 election
1938 election
1943 election		Tiaki Omana
1946 election
1949 election
1951 election
1954 election
1957 election
1960 election
1963 election		Puti Tipene Watene
1966 election
1967 by-election		Paraone Reweti
1969 election
1972 election
1975 election
1978 election
1981 election		Peter Tapsell
1984 election
1987 election
1990 election
1993 election

Election results

Note that the affiliation of many early candidates is not known.

1993 election

1993 general election: Eastern Maori^[3]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Peter Tapsell	9,311	63.52	−7.40
	Alliance	Alamein Kopu	2,645	18.04
	Mana Māori	Tame Iti	1,388	9.46
	National	Jim Gray	664	4.52
	Christian Heritage	Mere Wirepa	404	2.75
	Natural Law	Molly Para	246	1.67
Majority			6,666	45.47	−7.95
Turnout			14,658	61.64	+0.37
Registered electors			23,779

1990 election

1990 general election: Eastern Maori^[4]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Peter Tapsell	9,085	70.92	−3.19
	Mana Motuhake	Wi Kuki Kaa	2,241	17.49
	National	Jim Ngatai Connelly	1,484	11.58
Majority			6,844	53.42	−7.08
Turnout			12,810	61.27	−9.24
Registered electors			20,906

1987 election

1987 general election: Eastern Maori^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Peter Tapsell	10,653	74.11	−10.07
	Mana Motuhake	Amster Reedy	1,957	13.61
	National	Jim Gray	1,321	9.19
	Democrats	G M Ngakaru	442	3.07
Majority			8,696	60.50	−16.45
Turnout			14,373	70.51	−7.28
Registered electors			20,384

1984 election

1984 general election: Eastern Maori^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Peter Tapsell	12,285	84.18	+20.39
	National	Barry Kiwara	1,055	7.22
	Mana Motuhake	Bert McLean	575	3.94
	NZ Party	Rawinia Heremaia	400	2.74
	Social Credit	T K Te Aweawe	277	1.89
Majority			11,230	76.95	−0.35
Turnout			14,592	77.79	+0.49
Registered electors			18,757

1981 election

1981 general election: Eastern Maori^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Peter Tapsell	8,222	63.79
	Mana Motuhake	Albert Tahana	1,990	15.43
	National	Charles Little	1,505	11.67
	Social Credit	R T Tibble	1,172	9.09
Majority			6,232	48.35
Turnout			12,889	77.30	+26.02
Registered electors			16,673

1978 election

1978 general election: Eastern Maori^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paraone Reweti	9,085	74.79	+0.81
	National	Monty Searancke	1,685	13.87	−5.56
	Social Credit	T Te Hira	1,195	9.83
	Values	H Te M Kaa	182	1.49
Majority			7,400	60.92	+6.37
Turnout			12,147	51.28	−18.53
Registered electors			23,684

1975 election

1975 general election: Eastern Maori^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paraone Reweti	8,491	73.98	+1.33
	National	Monty Searancke	2,230	19.43
	Social Credit	Manu Te Pere	548	4.77
	Values	Danny Stevens	208	1.81
Majority			6,261	54.55	+3.63
Turnout			11,477	69.81	−16.19
Registered electors			16,439

1972 election

1972 general election: Eastern Maori^[5]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paraone Reweti	8,831	72.65	+10.64
	National	Koro Dewes	2,641	21.72
	Social Credit	R Rangi	505	4.15
	New Democratic	T T Clarke	177	1.45
Majority			6,190	50.92	+21.09
Turnout			12,154	86.00	+2.84
Registered electors			14,131

1969 election

1969 general election: Eastern Maori^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paraone Reweti	7,247	62.01	+12.52
	National	Henare Ngata	3,760	32.17
	Social Credit	Maanu Paul	679	5.81	−7.72
Majority			3,487	29.83	+7.15
Turnout			11,686	83.16	+22.46
Registered electors			14,051

1967 by-election

1967 Eastern Maori by-election^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Paraone Reweti	4,460	49.49
	National	Arnold Reedy	2,416	26.81	−3.93
	Social Credit	Maanu Paul	1,219	13.53	+3.11
	Independent Maori	Don Bennett	671	7.45
	Independent	Te Okanga Huata	246	2.73
Majority			2,044	22.68
Turnout			9,012	60.70	−15.58
Registered electors			14,849
	Labour hold		Swing

1966 election

1966 general election: Eastern Maori^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Puti Tipene Watene	6,537	58.83	+3.83
	National	Arnold Reedy	3,416	30.74	−3.43
	Social Credit	Maanu Paul	1,158	10.42
Majority			3,121	28.08	+7.25
Turnout			11,111	76.28	−7.03
Registered electors			14,566

1963 election

1963 general election: Eastern Maori^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Puti Tipene Watene	6,775	55.00
	National	Arnold Reedy	4,209	34.17	+9.49
	Social Credit	R W Smith	741	6.01
	Independent	B A Raukopa	230	1.86
	Independent	P H Baker	157	1.27
	Liberal	R Rangi	112	0.90
	Ind. Social Credit	M W Sadler	92	0.74
Majority			2,566	20.83
Turnout			12,316	83.31	+3.30
Registered electors			14,783

1960 election

1960 general election: Eastern Maori^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tiaki Omana	5,809	51.49	−8.43
	Social Credit	Arnold Reedy	2,784	24.68	+6.25
	National	Henry Reiwhati Vercoe	2,496	22.12
	Independent	Mita Carter	191	1.69
Majority			3,025	26.81	−11.47
Turnout			11,280	80.01	−6.17
Registered electors			14,098

1957 election

1957 general election: Eastern Maori^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tiaki Omana	6,569	59.92	−0.81
	National	Wiremu Hoete Maxwell	2,372	21.63
	Social Credit	Arnold Reedy	2,021	18.43
Majority			4,197	38.28	+11.50
Turnout			10,962	86.18	+1.59
Registered electors			12,719

1954 election

1954 general election: Eastern Maori^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tiaki Omana	7,015	60.73	−2.41
	National	Claude Anaru	3,921	33.94
	Social Credit	Wilson Paku	614	5.31
Majority			3,094	26.78	+0.51
Turnout			11,550	84.59	−13.30
Registered electors			13,654

1951 election

1951 General election: Eastern Maori^[6]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tiaki Omana	8,905	63.14	+1.48
	National	Turi Carroll	5,199	36.86	−1.48
Majority			3,706	26.27	+2.94
Turnout			14,104	97.89	−9.79
Registered electors			14,407

1949 election

1949 general election: Eastern Maori^[7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tiaki Omana	8,487	61.66	+7.68
	National	Turi Carroll	5,276	38.34
Majority			3,211	23.33	+12.15
Turnout			13,763	107.68
Registered electors			12,781

The number of electors on Maori rolls was often inaccurate hence the impossible turnout figures.^[5]

1946 election

1946 general election: Eastern Maori^[8]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Tiaki Omana	7,321	53.98
	National	Āpirana Ngata	5,804	42.79
Informal votes			439	3.23
Majority			1,517	11.18
Turnout			13,564

1931 election

1931 general election: Eastern Maori^[9]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United	Āpirana Ngata	5,105	71.91	+1.70
	Ratana	Pita Moko	1,994	28.09	+1.90
Majority			3,111	43.82
Turnout			7,099

1928 election

1928 general election: Eastern Maori^[10]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United	Āpirana Ngata	4,950	70.21
	Ratana	Pita Moko	1,846	26.18
	Labour	Robert Panapa Tutaki	254	3.60
Majority			3,104	44.03
Turnout			7,050

1899 election

1899 general election: Eastern Maori^[11]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Wi Pere	2,294	40.52	−20.70
		Mohi Te Ātahīkoia	1,387	24.50
		Hurinui Apanui	1,316	23.25
		Kereru Numia	331	5.85
		Tare Mete	207	3.66	−9.86
		Tamati Haweti	126	2.23
Majority			907	16.02
Turnout			5,661

1896 election

1896 general election: Eastern Maori^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Wi Pere	2,549	61.22
		Tamati Tautuhi	805	19.33
		Tare Mete	563	13.52
		Maika Taruhe	182	4.37
		Eriata Nopera	65	1.56
Majority			1,744	41.88
Turnout			4,164

1879 by-election

1879 Eastern Maori by-election

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Henare Tomoana	652	37.84
	Independent	Henare Matua	583	33.84
	Independent	Hans Tapsell	429	24.90
	Independent	Henare Te Pukuatua	59	3.42
Majority			69	4.00
Turnout			1723

Notes

1. Rorke, Jinty. "Turi Carroll". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
2. Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
3. Part 1: Votes recorded at each polling place (Technical report). New Zealand Chief Electoral Office. 1993. p. 146.
4. Part 1: Votes recorded at each polling place (Technical report). New Zealand Chief Electoral Office. 1990. p. 153.
5. Norton 1988, p. 396.
6. Norton 1988, p. 395.
7. "The General Election, 1949". National Library. 1950. pp. 1–5, 8. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
8. "The General Election, 1946". National Library. 1947. pp. 1–11, 14. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
9. The General Election, 1931. Government Printer. 1932. p. 6. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
10. Skinner 1929, p. 7.
11. "The General Election, 1899". Wellington: Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives. 19 June 1900. p. 3. Retrieved 13 March 2014.
12. "Untitled". Poverty Bay Herald. Vol. XXIV, no. 7816. 4 January 1897. p. 2. Retrieved 16 January 2014.

References

• Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.
• Skinner, W. A. G. (1929). The General Election, 1928. Government Printer. Retrieved 25 April 2015.

External links

• Text of Eastern Māori election poll petition, 1876 (in Māori)