1923 Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives election

The 1923 election of the Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives occurred on 7 February 1923, following the 1922 general election result. The election saw the incumbent speaker Sir Frederic Lang lose his parliamentary seat. It resulted in the election of Independent MP Charles Statham as Speaker.

1923 Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives election

7 February 1923 1996 →

Candidate Charles Statham James McCombs Party Independent Labour Popular vote 61 17 Percentage 78.20 21.79

Speaker before election Sir Frederic Lang Reform Elected Speaker Charles Statham Independent

Nominated candidates

Two candidates were nominated:

• James McCombs, MP for Lyttelton – Labour Party
• Charles Statham, MP for Dunedin Central – Independent

John Luke, the MP for Wellington North, declined nomination for the role of speaker.

Election

The election was conducted by means of a conventional parliamentary motion. The Clerk of the House of Representatives conducted a vote on the question of the election of the Speaker.

The following table gives the election results:^[1]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	Charles Statham	61	78.20
	Labour	James McCombs	17	21.79
Majority			44	56.41
Turnout			78	—

How each MP voted:^[1]

	Party	Name	Speaker Vote
	Reform	George James Anderson	Statham
	Labour	Tim Armstrong	McCombs
	Independent	Harry Atmore	Statham
	Labour	Fred Bartram	McCombs
	Independent	Allen Bell	Statham
	Reform	John Bitchener	Statham
	Reform	Richard Bollard	Statham
	Liberal	David Buddo	Statham
	Reform	Thomas Burnett	Statham
	Reform	Gordon Coates	Statham
	Liberal	James Randall Corrigan	Statham
	Liberal	Philip De La Perrelle	Statham
	Reform	James Dickson	Statham
	Reform	James Samuel Dickson	Statham
	Reform	William Downie Stewart Jr	Statham
	Liberal	John Edie	Statham
	Reform	Billy Glenn	Statham
	Reform	William Hughes Field	Statham
	Liberal	George Forbes	Statham
	Labour	Peter Fraser	McCombs
	Reform	William Girling	Statham
	Reform	David Guthrie	Statham
	Liberal	Josiah Hanan	Statham
	Reform	Alexander Harris	Statham
	Reform	Oswald Hawken	Statham
	Reform	Taurekareka Henare	Statham
	Reform	William Herries	Statham
	Reform	Frank Hockly	Statham
	Labour	Harry Holland	McCombs
	Liberal	James Horn	Statham
	Labour	Ted Howard	McCombs
	Reform	Richard Hudson	Statham
	Reform	George Hunter	Statham
	Liberal	Leonard Isitt	Statham
	Labour	Bill Jordan	McCombs
	Labour	Frank Langstone	McCombs
	Labour	John A. Lee	McCombs
	Reform	Joseph Linklater	Statham
	Reform	John Luke	Statham
	Liberal	Frederick Lye	Statham
	Reform	Douglas Lysnar	Statham
	Liberal	John Andrew MacPherson	Statham
	Reform	William Massey	Statham
	Liberal	Robert Masters	Statham
	Labour	Lew McIlvride	McCombs
	Liberal	Gilbert McKay	Statham
	Labour	Robert McKeen	McCombs
	Reform	Alex McLeod	Statham
	Labour	Alec Monteith	McCombs
	Labour	Jim Munro	McCombs
	Independent Liberal	Alfred Murdoch	Statham
	Reform	William Nosworthy	Statham
	Reform	Jimmy Nash	Statham
	Liberal	Āpirana Ngata	Statham
	Labour	James O'Brien	McCombs
	Reform	James Parr	Statham
	Labour	Bill Parry	McCombs
	Independent Liberal	Hugh Poland	McCombs
	Reform	Māui Pōmare	Statham
	Reform	Vivian Potter	Statham
	Liberal	Alfred Ransom	Statham
	Reform	Heaton Rhodes	Statham
	Reform	Thomas William Rhodes	Statham
	Reform	Frank Rolleston	Statham
	Reform	John Rolleston	Statham
	Labour	Michael Joseph Savage	McCombs
	Liberal	Thomas Sidey	Statham
	Liberal	Sydney George Smith	Statham
	Labour	Dan Sullivan	McCombs
	Independent	George Sykes	Statham
	Liberal	John Charles Thomson	Statham
	Reform	Henare Uru	Statham
	Liberal	Bill Veitch	Statham
	Liberal	Thomas Wilford	Statham
	Reform	Kenneth Williams	Statham
	Independent Liberal	George Witty	Statham
	Reform	Robert Wright	Statham
	Reform	Alexander Young	Statham