1881 New Zealand general election

General election

1881 general election

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| <- 1879 | 8 (Māori) & 9 (general) December 1881 | 1884 ->

|
|

<- outgoing members

elected members ->

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All 95 seats in the House of Representatives
Turnout| 66.5%
|  | First party  | Second party

|
|

|  |
Leader  | John Hall | George Grey
Party  | Conservative Independents | Greyite Independents
Leader since  | 1879  | 1877
Leader's seat  | Selwyn | Auckland East
Seats won  | 45 | 39
Seat change  |  0  |  2
Popular vote  | N/A | N/A
Percentage  | N/A | N/A
Swing  | N/A | N/A

* * *

| Premier before election

John Hall
Independent

| Subsequent Premier

John Hall
Independent

|

The 1881 New Zealand general election was held on 8 and 9 December in the Māori and European electorates, respectively, to elect 95 MPs to the 8th session of the New Zealand Parliament.

1881 was the first time a general election was held under universal male suffrage; all MPs were elected in single-member electorates; and the country quota was introduced, allowing rural electorates to have 25% fewer voters than urban electorates. Beginning with the 1881 election, all elections in European electorates were to be held on the same day, a measure not introduced for Māori electorates until 1951.[1]

## 1881 electoral redistribution

[edit]

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: Ashburton, Auckland North, Awarua, Christchurch North, Christchurch South, Coromandel, Dunedin Central, Dunedin East, Dunedin South, Dunedin West, Foxton, Franklin North, Franklin South, Hawke's Bay, Hokonui, Inangahua, Kumara, Lincoln, Manukau, Moeraki, Peninsula, St Albans, Stanmore, Sydenham, Taranaki, Tauranga, Te Aro, Thorndon, Waimate, Waipawa, Wairarapa North, Wairarapa South, Waitotara, Wakanui, and Wellington South. In addition, two electorates that had previously been abolished were recreated: Bay of Islands and Oamaru.[2]

These changes necessitated a major disruption to existing boundaries. Only six electorates remained unchanged: Waikato, Waipa, Bruce, Lyttelton, Nelson, and Picton.[2]

The electoral distribution was the first that formally acknowledged the existence of a country quota, where country electorates contained 25% fewer voters than town electorates.[3]

## The election

[edit]

The 1881 election was held on Thursday, 8 December, in the Māori electorates and on Friday, 9 December, in the European electorates to elect a total of 95 MPs to the 8th Parliament. A total number of 120,972 (66.5%) voters turned out to vote.[4] In 11 seats there was only one candidate.[5] 36 and 55 seats were in the North Island and South Island, respectively, plus the 4 Māori electorates.[6]

The incumbent government led by John Hall retained office having support from 45 members with 39 "Greyites" (supporters of George Grey) and 11 Independents not affiliated with either faction.[7]

## Results

[edit]

The following table shows the successful candidate for each electorate.[8]

Member  | Electorate  | Affiliation  | MP's term

|
|
|

William Montgomery | Akaroa | Greyite  | Fourth
Edward George Wright | Ashburton | Greyite  | Second
William Fisher Pearson | Ashley | Greyite  | First
George Grey | Auckland East | Greyite  | Fourth
Thomas Peacock | Auckland North | Independent  | First
Joseph Dargaville | Auckland West | Independent  | First
William Rolleston | Avon | Conservative  | Fifth
James Parker Joyce | Awarua | Greyite  | Second
Richard Hobbs | Bay of Islands | Conservative  | Second
James Rutherford | Bruce | Independent  | First
John Munro | Buller | Independent Liberal  | First
William Barron | Caversham | Greyite  | Second
Hugh McIlraith | Cheviot | Conservative  | First
Henry Thomson | Christchurch North | Conservative  | First
John Holmes | Christchurch South | Greyite  | First
James William Thomson | Clutha | Conservative  | Fourth
David McMillan | Coleridge | Conservative  | First
Alfred Cadman | Coromandel | Greyite  | First
Thomas Bracken | Dunedin Central | Greyite  | First
Matthew Green | Dunedin East | Independent  | First
Henry Fish | Dunedin South | Independent  | First
Thomas Dick | Dunedin West | Conservative  | Fourth
Vincent Pyke | Dunstan | Greyite  | Fourth
Allan McDonald | East Coast | Greyite  | Second
Joseph Tole | Eden | Greyite  | Third
Harry Atkinson | Egmont | Conservative  | Sixth
James Wilson | Foxton | Conservative  | First
Benjamin Harris | Franklin North | Greyite  | Second
Ebenezer Hamlin | Franklin South | Greyite  | Third
William Postlethwaite | Geraldine | Conservative  | First
James Sutter | Gladstone | Independent  | First
Joseph Petrie | Greymouth | Conservative  | First
Fred Sutton | Hawkes Bay | Conservative  | Third
Henry Wynn-Williams | Heathcote | Conservative  | First
Gerard George Fitzgerald | Hokitika | Conservative  | First
Henry Driver | Hokonui | Conservative  | Fifth
Thomas Mason | Hutt | Conservative  | Second
Thomas S. Weston | Inangahua | Conservative  | Second
Henry Feldwick | Invercargill | Greyite  | Second
Isaac Wilson | Kaiapoi | Conservative  | First
Richard Seddon | Kumara | Greyite  | Second
Arthur O'Callaghan | Lincoln | Conservative  | First
Harry Allwright | Lyttelton | Conservative  | Second
Walter Woods Johnston | Manawatu | Conservative  | Fourth
Maurice O'Rorke | Manukau | Independent  | Sixth
Edwin Mitchelson | Marsden | Conservative  | First
Francis Wallace Mackenzie | Mataura | Greyite  | First
John McKenzie | Moeraki | Greyite  | First
Richmond Hursthouse | Motueka | Conservative  | Third
Cecil de Lautour | Mount Ida | Greyite  | Third
John Buchanan | Napier | Greyite  | First
Henry Levestam | Nelson | Greyite  | Second
Thomas Kelly | New Plymouth | Conservative  | Fifth
William Swanson | Newton | Conservative  | Fourth
Samuel Shrimski | Oamaru | Greyite  | Third
Frederick Moss | Parnell | Greyite  | Third
James Seaton | Peninsula | Greyite  | Second
Edward Connoly | Picton | Conservative  | First
James Macandrew | Port Chalmers | Greyite  | Eighth
John Stevens | Rangitikei | Independent Liberal  | First
Seymour Thorne George | Rodney | Greyite  | Third
John Bathgate | Roslyn | Greyite  | Second
John Hall | Selwyn | Conservative  | Fifth
John Evans Brown | St Albans | Greyite  | Third
Walter Pilliet | Stanmore | Conservative  | First
William White | Sydenham | Greyite  | First
James Fulton | Taieri | Conservative  | Second
Robert Trimble | Taranaki | Conservative  | Second
George Morris | Tauranga | Conservative  | Second
Charles John Johnston | Te Aro | Conservative  | First
John Sheehan | Thames | Independent  | Fourth
William Levin | Thorndon | Conservative  | Second
Richard Turnbull | Timaru | Greyite  | Third
James Clark Brown | Tuapeka | Greyite  | Fifth
John Blair Whyte | Waikato | Conservative  | Second
James Green | Waikouaiti | Conservative  | Second
William Steward | Waimate | Conservative  | Second
Joseph Shephard | Waimea | Greyite  | Third
Frederick Alexander Whitaker | Waipa | Conservative  | Second
William Cowper Smith | Waipawa | Independent Liberal  | First
George Beetham | Wairarapa North | Conservative  | Third
Walter Clarke Buchanan | Wairarapa South | Conservative  | First
Henry Dodson | Wairau | Greyite  | First
Thomas Young Duncan | Waitaki | Greyite  | First
William John Hurst | Waitemata | Conservative  | Second
John Bryce | Waitotara | Conservative  | Fifth
Cathcart Wason | Wakanui | Conservative  | Second
Thomas Fergus | Wakatipu | Conservative  | First
Theophilus Daniel | Wallace | Greyite  | First
William Hogg Watt | Wanganui | Conservative  | Second
William Hutchison | Wellington South | Greyite  | Second
Henare Tomoana | X-01Eastern Maori | Conservative  | Third
Hone Tawhai | X-02Northern Maori | Greyite  | Second
Hori Kerei Taiaroa | X-03Southern Maori | Greyite  | Fourth
Wiremu Te Wheoro | X-04Western Maori | Greyite  | Second

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ "The Origins of the Māori Seats". New Zealand Parliament. Archived from the original on 9 January 2013. Retrieved 2 April 2012.
2. ^ a b McRobie 1989, pp. 43–48.
3. ^ McRobie 1989, p. 47.
4. ^ "General elections 1853-2005 - dates & turnout". Elections New Zealand. Archived from the original on 14 November 2014. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
5. ^ Wilson 1985, p. 286.
6. ^ Wilson 1985, p. 173.
7. ^ "New Elections". Thames Star. Vol. XII, no. 4042\. 12 December 1881. p. 2. Retrieved 11 September 2016.
8. ^ Cooper 1882, pp. 1–3.

## References

[edit]

* Cooper, G. S. (1882). Votes Recorded for Each Candidate. Government Printer. Retrieved 24 October 2015.
* 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.

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