Parnell (New Zealand electorate)

Parnell was a parliamentary electorate in the city of Auckland, New Zealand, from 1861 to 1954, with one break of eight years.

Population centres

In the 1860 electoral redistribution, the House of Representatives increased the number of representatives by 12, reflecting the immense population growth since the original electorates were established in 1853. The redistribution created 15 additional electorates with between one and three members, and Parnell was one of the single-member electorates.^[1] The electorates were distributed to provinces so that every province had at least two members. Within each province, the number of registered electors by electorate varied greatly.^[1] The Parnell electorate had 268 registered electors for the 1861 election.^[2]

Over the years, Parnell sometimes comprised a small area, and sometimes it covered quite a large area. Much of the area covered fluctuated between the Parnell and Manukau electorates.^[3]

In 1927 the Representation Commission proposed altering the Parnell boundaries; which if confirmed would have made the electorate "dry" or no-licence, and without an authority which could issue temporary licences for the Ellerslie and Alexandra Park raceways. Following objections, the boundary between the Parnell and Auckland East electorates was adjusted to include a hotel in the Parnell electorate (so retaining its licensing committee). John A. Lee later claimed that this adjustment cost him his Auckland East seat in the 1928 election. ^[4] In 1936 Lee tried to weaken Endean's grip on Parnell (the only non-Labour seat in Auckland) with the Orakei state housing scheme, and proposed to evict the Māori marae (see Bastion Point). Michael Joseph Savage reversed the Cabinet decision when he returned from the Coronation in England.^[5]

In the 1937 electoral redistribution, Parnell was abolished and replaced with the Remuera electorate, covering almost exactly the same area as Parnell had since the 1927 electoral redistribution.^[6]

The 1941 New Zealand census had been postponed due to World War II, so the 1946 electoral redistribution had to take ten years of population growth and movements into account. The North Island gained a further two electorates from the South Island due to faster population growth. The abolition of the country quota through the Electoral Amendment Act, 1945 reduced the number and increased the size of rural electorates. None of the existing electorates remained unchanged, 27 electorates were abolished, 19 electorates were created for the first time, and eight former electorates were re-established, including Parnell.^[7] The Parnell electorate existed alongside the Remuera electorate.^[8] It was abolished again with the next electoral redistribution, which was held in 1952 and became effective with the 1954 election.^[9] Most of the Parnell electorate's area went once again to the Remuera electorate.^[10]

History

The electorate was represented by ten Members of Parliament:^[11]

Members of Parliament

Key

  Independent   Conservative   Liberal   Reform   United   National

Election	Winner
1861 election		Reader Wood
1865 by-election		Robert Creighton
1866 election		Frederick Whitaker
1867 by-election		Charles Heaphy
1870 by-election		Reader Wood
1871 election
1875 election
1878 by-election		Frederick Moss
1879 election
1881 election
1884 election
1887 election
1890 election		Frank Lawry
1893 election
1896 election
1899 election
1902 election
1905 election
1908 election
1911 election		James Dickson
1914 election
1919 election
1922 election
1925 election
1928 election		Harry Jenkins
1930 by-election		Bill Endean
1931 election
1935 election
(electorate abolished 1938–1946; see Remuera)
1946 election		Duncan Rae
1949 election
1951 election
(electorate abolished 1954; see Remuera)

Election results

1951 election

1951 general election: Parnell^[12]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Duncan Rae	6,355	57.13	+3.58
	Labour	Hugh Watt	4,768	42.86
Majority			1,587	14.26	+6.04
Turnout			11,123	87.36	−6.54
Registered electors			12,732

1949 election

1949 general election: Parnell^[13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Duncan Rae	6,255	53.55	+3.80
	Labour	Bill Schramm	5,295	45.33
	Communist	Rita Smith	131	1.12
Majority			960	8.22	+6.53
Informal votes			54	0.46	−1.72
Turnout			11,735	93.90	−0.51
Registered electors			12,497

1946 election

1946 general election: Parnell^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Duncan Rae	6,059	49.75
	Labour	Bill Schramm	5,853	48.06
Informal votes			266	2.18
Majority			206	1.69
Turnout			12,178	94.41
Registered electors			12,898

1935 election

1935 general election: Parnell^[15]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform	Bill Endean	5,758	39.36	−25.87
	Labour	Arthur Osborne	5,028	34.37
	Independent	Alexander Herdman	3,334	22.79
	Independent Liberal	Frederick Coles Jordan	507	3.46
Informal votes			174	1.18	−0.10
Majority			730	4.99	−37.66
Turnout			14,627	90.42	+11.48
Registered electors			16,176

1931 election

1931 general election: Parnell^[16][17]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform	Bill Endean	7,374	65.23	+17.68
	Labour	John William Yarnall	2,553	22.58
	Independent	William Collingbourne Hewitt	1,377	12.18
Majority			4,821	42.65	+26.75
Informal votes			147	1.28	+0.97
Turnout			11,451	78.94	+6.20
Registered electors			14,506

1930 by-election

1930 Parnell by-election^[18]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform	Bill Endean	4,852	47.55
	United	W. Alan Donald[19]	3,230	31.65
	Labour	Tom Bloodworth	2,122	20.80
Majority			1,622	15.90	+8.88
Informal votes			32	0.31	−0.37
Turnout			10,236	72.74	−13.81
Registered electors			14,073

1928 election

1928 general election: Parnell^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United	Harry Reginald Jenkins	5,642	46.64
	Reform	James Samuel Dickson	4,793	39.62
	Labour	John William Yarnall[17]	1,661	13.73
Majority			849	7.02
Informal votes			83	0.68
Turnout			12,179	86.54
Registered electors			14,073

1919 election

1919 general election: Parnell^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform	James Samuel Dickson	5,706	62.50
	Labour	Tom Bloodworth	2,287	25.05
	Liberal	Rosetta Baume	1,026	11.23
Informal votes			110	1.20
Majority			3,419	37.45
Turnout			9,129	76.17
Registered electors			11,985

^b Rosetta Baume was one of three women in 1919 who stood at short notice when women were able to stand as candidates for election to parliament.

1911 election

1911 general election: Parnell, first ballot^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform	James Samuel Dickson	3,585	44.19
	Liberal	John Findlay	2,971	36.62
	Labour	Joe Mack	1,557	19.19
Majority			614	7.57
Informal votes			93	1.13
Turnout			8,206	81.97
Registered electors			10,011

1911 general election: Parnell, second ballot^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform	James Samuel Dickson	4,264	52.71
	Liberal	John Findlay	3,826	47.29
Majority			438	5.41
Informal votes			25	0.31
Turnout			8,115	81.06
Registered electors			10,011

1899 election

1899 general election: Parnell^[23][24]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Frank Lawry	2,263	49.93
	Conservative	Hugh Campbell	1,423	31.40
	Conservative	John Candlish Allen	846	18.67
Majority			840	18.53
Turnout			4,532	74.55
Registered electors			6,079

1890 election

1890 general election: Parnell^[25]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Frank Lawry	656	59.47
	Independent	J M Lennox	447	40.52
Majority			209	18.94
Turnout			1,103	64.27
Registered electors			1,716

Notes

1. McRobie 1989, p. 35.
2. McRobie 1989, p. 33.
3. McRobie 1989, pp. 32–86.
4. McRobie 1989, p. 10.
5. Olssen 1977, pp. 105, 106.
6. McRobie 1989, pp. 86–91.
7. McRobie 1989, pp. 91–96.
8. McRobie 1989, pp. 94f.
9. McRobie 1989, pp. 98f.
10. McRobie 1989, pp. 94, 98.
11. Wilson 1985, p. 270.
12. "The New Zealand Official Year-Book, 1951–52". Statistics New Zealand. Archived from the original on 23 June 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
13. The General Election, 1949. National Library. 1950. p. 4. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
14. "The General Election, 1946". National Library. 1947. pp. 1–11, 14. Retrieved 1 January 2014.
15. The General Election, 1935. National Library. 1936. pp. 1–35. Retrieved 3 August 2013.
16. The General Election, 1931. Government Printer. 1932. p. 4. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
17. "Electoral". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. LXVIII, no. 21036. 21 November 1931. p. 16. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
18. "Final Figures". The Evening Post. Vol. CIX, no. 112. 14 May 1930. Retrieved 11 August 2013.
19. "By-election Campaign". Auckland Star. Vol. LXI, no. 99. 29 April 1930. p. 9. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
20. The General Election, 1928. Government Printer. 1929. p. 4. Retrieved 29 November 2014.
21. Hislop, J. (1921). The General Election, 1919. National Library. pp. 1–6. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
22. "The General Election, 1911". National Library. 1912. pp. 1, 6. Retrieved 1 August 2013.
23. "The General Election, 1899". Wellington: Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives. 19 June 1900. p. 1. Retrieved 12 February 2014.
24. "Electoral District of Parnell". Observer. Vol. XIX, no. 1095. 23 December 1899. p. 2. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
25. "The General Election, 1890". National Library. 1891. Retrieved 25 February 2012.

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.
• Olssen, Erik (1977). John A. Lee. Dunedin: University of Otago Press. pp. 105, 106. ISBN 0-908569-04-1.