Mataura (New Zealand electorate)

Mataura was a parliamentary electorate in the Southland Region of New Zealand, from 1866 to 1946.

Population centres

In the 1865 electoral redistribution, the House of Representatives focussed its review of electorates to South Island electorates only, as the Central Otago gold rush had caused significant population growth, and a redistribution of the existing population. Fifteen additional South Island electorates were created, including Mataura, and the number of Members of Parliament was increased by 13 to 70.^[1]

Mataura was located in the rural Southland Region.^[2] It covered the area around Invercargill (which had its own urban electorate) and settlements included Bluff, Winton, Gore, Mataura, and Edendale.^[3]

History

Mataura was first established for the 1866 general election. The first representative was Dillon Bell from 1866 until when he retired from politics at the dissolution of parliament in December 1875.^[4] Bell was succeeded by William Wood, who won the 1876 election. Wood resigned at the end of 1878, as he had been appointed to the Legislative Council.^[5]

Woods resignation caused the 1879 by-election, which was won by James Shanks; he retired at the end of the parliamentary term in 1881.^[6] Shanks was succeeded by Francis Wallace Mackenzie, who won the 1881 election, but who was defeated in 1884 by George Richardson.^[7] In the 1893 election, Richardson was defeated by Robert McNab of the Liberal Party, but Richardson in turn defeated McNab in the 1896 election.^[8] In 1898, Richardson was declared bankrupt,^[9] and the resulting 1898 by-election was won by McNab, who served until he was defeated again in the 1908 election.^[10]

Members of Parliament

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

Key

  Independent   Conservative   Liberal   Reform   United   National

Election	Winner
1866 election		Dillon Bell
1871 election
1876 election		William Wood
1879 by-election		James Shanks
1879 election
1881 election		Francis Wallace Mackenzie
1884 election		George Richardson
1887 election
1890 election
1893 election		Robert McNab
1896 election		George Richardson (2nd period)
1898 by-election		Robert McNab (2nd period)
1899 election
1902 election
1905 election
1908 election		George Anderson
1911 election
1914 election
1919 election
1922 election
1925 election
1928 election		David McDougall
1931 election
1935 election
1938 election		Tom Macdonald
1943 election
(Electorate abolished 1946; see Wallace)

Election results

1931 election

1931 general election: Mataura^[12][13]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United	David McDougall	4,254	56.23
	Independent	Thomas Golden	3,311	43.77
Majority			943	12.47
Informal votes			129	1.68
Turnout			7,694	83.47
Registered electors			9,218

1928 election

1928 general election: Mataura^[14]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	United	David McDougall	4,175	50.37
	Reform	George James Anderson	4,113	49.63
Majority			62	0.75
Informal votes			48	0.58
Turnout			8,336	90.67
Registered electors			9,194

1919 election

1919 general election: Mataura^[15][16]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform	George James Anderson	3,042	52.66
	Independent Liberal	David McDougall	1,706	29.53
	Labour	W. Alexander McLachlan[17][18]	848	14.68
	Independent Labour	Norman McIntyre	181	3.13
Majority			1,336	23.13
Informal votes			50	0.86
Turnout			5,827	81.81
Registered electors			7,123

1899 election

1899 general election: Mataura^[19][20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert McNab	2,132	51.94	−3.74
	Conservative	Irven Willis Raymond	1,973	48.06
Majority			159	3.87
Turnout			4,105	79.16
Registered electors			5,186

1898 by-election

1898 Mataura by-election^[21]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	Robert McNab	1,894	55.68
	Independent	Wilfrid Francis Ward	1,507	44.31
Majority			387	11.37
Turnout			3,401

1890 election

1890 general election: Matarua^[22]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	George Richardson	836	53.97
	Liberal	John Gideon Fraser	713	46.03
Majority			123	7.94
Turnout			1,549	2566
Registered electors			2,566

1871 election

1871 general election: Mataura^[23]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Dillon Bell	235	62.17
	Independent	Andrew Kinross[24]	73	19.31
	Independent	Thomas Denniston	70	18.52
Majority			162	42.86
Turnout			378	49.28
Registered electors			767