1928 Southern Rhodesian general election

The Southern Rhodesia general election of 19 September 1928 was the second election to the Legislative Assembly of Southern Rhodesia. The Rhodesia Party, who had won an overwhelming victory at the previous election, were re-elected with a slightly smaller majority.

Franchise

At this election the franchise was codified for the first time by the Electoral Act, 1928. The basis for the act was a consolidation of the previous regulations created by Order in Council, but the opportunity was taken by the Legislative Assembly to change some of the regulations which they had come to dislike. The principal change in the franchise was to restrict registration to British subjects only, whether by birth or naturalisation; previously, resident aliens could take an oath of allegiance to qualify themselves.

A change was also made to the literacy requirements for voters, where the test of writing fifty words of English at the dictation of the registering officer was dropped and the would-be voter merely had to be able to fill in the form in their own handwriting. The financial means qualification was the subject of a minor wording change, whereby the word "income" was added as an alternative to salary or wages.

Electoral procedure

The Electoral Act, 1928 added a procedure whereby electors could vote by post, but otherwise retained the same system as used previously.

Electoral districts

Having previously elected the Legislative Assembly by means of 15 electoral districts each returning two members, in 1927 a Delimitation Board was established to recommend new districts. The Board intended to recommend 30 single-member districts, but found this to be impractical given the strong population growth around Salisbury and Bulawayo and therefore recommended 22 single-member districts and four two-member districts. The retention of two-member districts was controversial. The Board found its work hampered by the inaccuracy of the electoral roll, and as a result registration procedure was tightened up in the Electoral Act, 1928.

Political parties

The development of political parties had advanced since the colony was granted self-government. The Progressive Party, an opposition group opposed to monopolies and advocating more development of Matabeleland, had been formed in June 1927 from a group of independent members, and was able to nominate 22 candidates for the 30 seats. The Rhodesia Labour Party had increased its strength in the towns.

Also in 1927 the Country Party had been formed by dissident farmers in the Rhodesian Agricultural Union.

Summary result

Electorate: 26,629 (25,832 in contested seats) Turnout: 60.5%

Party	Seats in 1924	Candidates	Elected	Unopposed	Popular vote
Votes	%
Rhodesia Party	26	30	22	1	8,396	52.4
Progressive Party	-	22	4	-	4,523	28.2
Rhodesia Labour Party	-	8	3	-	1,921	12.0
Country Party	-	4	-	-	662	4.1
Independents	4	2	1	-	514	3.2
Totals	30	66	30	1	16,016	100%

Results

• CP – Centre Party
• Lab – Rhodesia Labour Party
• PP – Progressive Party
• RP – Rhodesia Party

Constituency Electorate and turnout	Candidate	Party	Votes
BULAWAYO CENTRAL Two members 2,138 (48.0%)	†James Cowden	RP	626
	Donald MacGillivray	RP	615
	†Francis Leslie Hadfield	PP	442
	Gilbert Samuel Hough	PP	368
BULAWAYO NORTH Two members 1,915 (47.5%)	†Robert James Hudson	RP	774
	†Allan Ross Welsh	RP	711
	Ernest Richard Davies	PP	334
BULAWAYO SOUTH 1,110 (62.3%)	Harry Herbert Davies	Lab	440
	George Johnson	RP	252
CHARTER 791 (62.5%)	Ernest Lucas Guest	RP	283
	†Charles Edward Gilfillan	PP	211
EASTERN 842 (67.1%)	†John Louis Martin	Ind	344
	†Ethel Tawse Jollie	RP	221
GATOOMA 900 (68.8%)	George Munro	RP	440
	Sir Ernest William Sanders Montagu	PP	260
	William Martin	Lab	93
GWANDA 671 (70.0%)	†George Mitchell	RP	173
	Herbert Stephen Henderson	Ind RP	170
	Daniel Judson	PP	127
GWELO 902 (68.2%)	†Max Danziger	RP	412
	John William Watkinson	PP	203
HARTLEY 744 (58.7%)	Roger Edward Downes	PP	250
	†Osmond Charteris Du Port	RP	187
INSIZA 736 (64.3%)	Stephen Martin Lanigan O'Keeffe	PP	255
	Joseph Ritchie Stewart	RP	218
INYATI 717 (59.8%)	Charles Spearman Jobling	RP	252
	†Frederic Phillip Mennell	PP	177
LOMAGUNDI 881 (55.3%)	†James Murdoch Eaton	RP	272
	Thomas William Williamson	CP	215
MARANDELLAS 793 (63.8%)	Luke Lot Green	RP	266
	Eric Arthur Nobbs	PP	167
	John Mitchell Moubray	CP	73
MATOPO 749 (71.6%)	†Robert Alexander Fletcher	RP	385
	Edmund Gilchrist Wrightson	PP	151
MAZOE 775 (68.3%)	†John Wallace Downie	RP	345
	Milton Evan Cleveland	CP	184
QUE QUE 844 (70.6%)	†Arthur James Taylor	RP	327
	Alexander Louis Wynand Koch Worsthorne	PP	269
RAYLTON 906 (64.6%)	Lawrence John Walter Keller	Lab	306
	†Henry Robert Barbour	RP	279
SALISBURY DISTRICT 968 (61.2%)	†William Muter Leggate	RP	268
	John Arnold Edmonds	CP	190
	Edward Cuthbert Nangle	PP	134
SALISBURY NORTH Two members 2,205 (64.0%)	†Godfrey Martin Huggins	RP	821
	†Percival Donald Leslie Fynn	RP	771
	†Frank William Frederick Johnson	PP	627
	Vernon Arthur Lewis	PP	601
SALISBURY SOUTH Two members 2,743 (63.1%)	†Harry Bertin	PP	639
	Gordon Ross Milne	RP	629
	Henry Fulton	RP	616
	John William Dunlop	Lab	600
	Frederick Eyles	Lab	505
	Walter Hill	PP	473
SELUKWE 806 (67.6%)	†Robert Dunipace Gilchrist	PP	300
	James Baillie Macdonald	RP	245
SHAMVA 473 (76.5%)	Mark Douglas Claxton	RP	259
	Trevor Fletcher	PP	103
UMTALI NORTH 707 (76.0%)	†Charles Eickhoff	RP	292
	Alexander Tulloch	PP	137
	William Harrison	Lab	108
UMTALI SOUTH 741 (71.9%)	Jonathan Hunter Malcolm	Lab	253
	Oswald Trevor Baker	RP	150
	Robert Chaloner Critchley Long	PP	130
VICTORIA 797	†Howard Unwin Moffat	RP	unopposed
WANKIE 775 (55.6%)	†Alexander Robert Thomson	RP	262
	George Francis Scougal	Lab	169

Changes during the Assembly

Mazoe

John Wallace Downie gave up his seat on 28 October 1930 on his appointment as High Commissioner of Southern Rhodesia in London, precipitating a byelection in his electoral district which was held on 5 December 1930.

Constituency	Candidate	Party	Votes
MAZOE	Edward Walter Lionel Noaks	Ind	361
	Frank Smith	Reform Party	98
	Cyril Allen	RP	63

Salisbury South

Due to the resignation of Gordon Ross Milne who was in ill health, a byelection in this electoral district was held on 13 March 1931.

Constituency	Candidate	Party	Votes
SALISBURY SOUTH	Jacob Hendrik Smit	Reform Party	564
	Alexander Louis Wynand Koch Worsthorne	Lab	526
	Guy Harcourt Peall	RP	310
	Henry Fulton	PP	168

Gwelo

Max Danziger left the Rhodesia Party on 4 June 1931 and simultaneously decided to vacate his seat to test the opinion of his electors. The result of the election was:

Constituency	Candidate	Party	Votes
GWELO	Max Danziger	Ind	unopposed

Party changes

In October 1929 the Progressive Party merged with the Country Party to form the Reform Party.

References

• Source Book of Parliamentary Elections and Referenda in Southern Rhodesia 1898–1962 ed. by F.M.G. Willson (Department of Government, University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Salisbury 1963)
• Holders of Administrative and Ministerial Office 1894–1964 by F.M.G. Willson and G.C. Passmore, assisted by Margaret T. Mitchell (Source Book No. 3, Department of Government, University College of Rhodesia and Nyasaland, Salisbury 1966)