1899 New Zealand general election
The New Zealand general election of 1899 was held on 6 and 19 December in the European and Māori electorates, respectively, to elect 74 MPs to the 14th session of the New Zealand Parliament. The election was again won by the Liberal Party, and Richard Seddon remained Prime Minister.
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
All 74 seats in the New Zealand House of Representatives 38 seats were needed for a majority | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Turnout | 77.6% | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
1896 electoral redistribution
The last electoral redistribution was undertaken in 1896 for the 1896 election, and the same electorates were used again.[1] 34 seats were located in the North Island, 36 were in the South Island, and the remaining four were Māori electorates.[2] Since the 1890 electoral redistribution, the four main centres had electorates with three seats each.[3]
The election
The 1899 election was held on Wednesday, 6 December in the general electorates, and on Tuesday, 19 December in the Māori electorates to elect a total of 74 MPs to the 14th Parliament.[4] A total number of 373,744 (77.6%) voters turned out to vote.[5][6] In three electorates there was only one candidate, and they were thus returned unopposed.[5] Two of those were Liberal candidates: Richard Seddon in the Westland electorate, and John McKenzie in the Waihemo electorate. The third was an opposition representative, William Russell, who stood in the Hawke's Bay electorate.[7]
Two candidates died during the election campaign. A third, Henry Augustus Field, died two days after having been re-elected in the Otaki electorate.[8]
Results
Party totals
The following table gives party strengths and vote distribution according to Wilson (1985), who records Maori representatives as Independents prior to the 1905 election.[9]
Election results | ||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Party | Candidates | Total votes | Percentage | Seats won | Change | |
Liberal | 86 | 204,331 | 52.71 | 49 | +10 | |
Conservative | 69 | 141,758 | 36.67 | 19 | -7 | |
Independent | 43 | 41,540 | 10.72 | 6 | -3 |
Votes summary
Electorate results
Seventy-four MPs were elected across sixty-two single-member, and four three-member electorates. The table below show the results of the 1899 general election:
Key
Liberal Conservative Independent Liberal Liberal–Labour Independent
Table footnotes:
- Note that in many newspapers, Keith is labelled as belonging to the opposition
- Not to be confused with James Whyte Kelly, who was defeated that election in the Invercargill electorate
- Note that the affiliation of many Māori candidates is not known.
Notes
- McRobie 1989, p. 63.
- Wilson 1985, p. 173.
- McRobie 1989, p. 55.
- Wilson 1985, pp. 138, 287.
- Wilson 1985, p. 286.
- "General elections 1853–2005 – dates & turnout". Elections New Zealand. Archived from the original on 14 November 2014. Retrieved 11 January 2011.
- "The General Election, 1899". Wellington: Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives. 19 June 1900. pp. 1–4. Retrieved 1 November 2012.
- "Untitled". Bay of Plenty Times. XXIV (3936). 11 December 1899. p. 2. Retrieved 6 February 2015.
- Wilson 1985, pp. 287–289.
- "Electoral District of Ashburton". Ashburton Guardian. XXI (4977). 28 November 1899. p. 3. Retrieved 6 February 2014.
- "Farewell to Mr and Mrs W. T. Murray and Mr and Mrs B. W. R. Dunn". The Southland Times (14743). 12 September 1900. p. 3. Retrieved 7 February 2014.
- "Electoral District of Bay of Islands". Auckland Star. XXX (280). 25 November 1899. p. 2. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
- "The Electoral District of Bay of Plenty". Bay Of Plenty Times. XXIV (3932). 1 December 1899. p. 2. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
- "Electoral District of Caversham". Otago Daily Times (11604). 12 December 1899. p. 6. Retrieved 9 February 2014.
- "Clutha Electoral District". Mataura Ensign (669). 2 December 1899. p. 3. Retrieved 11 February 2014.
- Scholefield 1940b, p. 124.
- "Electoral District of Manukau". Observer. XVIII (1094). 16 December 1899. p. 19. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
- "Masterton Electorate". Wairarapa Daily Times. XVI (6410). 4 December 1899. p. 3. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
- "Electoral District of Mataura". Mataura Ensign (673). 12 December 1899. p. 3. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
- "Electoral District of Oamaru". The Oamaru Mail. XXIV (7695). 12 December 1899. p. 3. Retrieved 15 February 2014.
- Scholefield 1940a, p. 55.
- "Electoral District of Thames". Thames Advertiser. XXIX (9510). 13 December 1899. p. 3. Retrieved 20 February 2014.
- "The General Election". Daily Telegraph (9729). 30 November 1899. p. 4. Retrieved 25 February 2014.
- "Notice of Nominations". Poverty Bay Herald. XXVI (8683). 30 November 1899. p. 3. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
- "Official Declaration of Poll". Auckland Star. XXX (296). 30 November 1899. p. 5. Retrieved 7 March 2014.
- "Otago". The Star (6661). 6 December 1899. p. 4. Retrieved 8 March 2014.
- "Waitaki Electoral District". The Timaru Herald. LXII (3123). 1 December 1899. p. 1. Retrieved 10 March 2014.
- "Orepuki". Otago Witness (2385). 23 November 1899. p. 34. Retrieved 11 March 2014.
- "Untitled". The Evening Post. LVIII (136). 6 December 1899. p. 6. Retrieved 14 March 2014.
References
- McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN 0-477-01384-8.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Scholefield, Guy, ed. (1940a). A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography : A–L (PDF). I. Wellington: Department of Internal Affairs. Retrieved 6 October 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Scholefield, Guy, ed. (1940b). A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography : M–Addenda (PDF). II. Wellington: Department of Internal Affairs. Retrieved 6 October 2013.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
- Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)