5th New Zealand Parliament

Sessions

The fifth Parliament opened on 14 August 1871, following the 1871 general election. It sat for five sessions, and was prorogued on 6 December 1875.

Historical context

Political parties had not been established yet; this only happened after the 1890 election. Anyone attempting to form an administration thus had to win support directly from individual MPs. This made first forming, and then retaining a government difficult and challenging.

The capital had moved from Auckland to Wellington in 1865. Parliament was meeting in the Provincial Council buildings. With the increase in the number of members of parliament to 70, conditions became very crowded. The original building "grew like topsy" until the end of the 19th century, and was consumed by fire on 11 December 1907.

In 1868, the first elections were held in the four Māori electorates that were created in the previous year.

Ministries

Since June 1869, the third Fox Ministry was in power, led by Premier William Fox. On 10 September 1872, the third Stafford Ministry was formed, which lasted 13 months. This was followed by the Waterhouse Ministry, from 11 October 1872 to 3 March 1873. The fourth Fox Ministry was short lived, from 3 March 1873 to 8 April 1873. The first Vogel Ministry was in power from 8 April 1873 to 6 July 1875. It was succeeded by the Pollen Ministry, which lasted into the term of the sixth Parliament.

Initial composition of the fifth Parliament

78 seats were created across the electorates. 68 European electorates and 4 Māori electorates were defined by the Representation Act 1870. Six of the general electorates had two representatives, the rest were single member electorates. Hence, 78 MPs were elected.

This compares to 61 electorates used in the previous general election in 1866, and 65 electorates after the Māori electorates were created in 1867. Electorates that were first formed for the 1871 elections were , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , and .

Changes during term

There were numerous changes during the term of the fifth Parliament.

;Akaroa Robert Heaton Rhodes resigned on 18 February 1874. William Montgomery won the subsequent 24 April 1874 by-election. In July 1874, a select committee declared Montgomery's election to be "null and void", as he had a contract for the supply of railway sleepers with the general government in breach of election rules. The select committee accepted that the breach was inadvertent. Montgomery stood for re-election in a 10 August 1874 by-election and was returned unopposed.

;Caversham Richard Cantrell resigned on 31 July 1872. He was succeeded by William Tolmie in a 28 August 1872 by-election, and he served until his death on 8 August 1875. Robert Stout, a later Prime Minister, first entered Parliament through the resulting 20 August 1875 by-election.

;Coleridge John Karslake Karslake resigned on 12 April 1872 to return to England (he drowned on the voyage home on 21 June 1872). William Bluett succeeded him through the 22 July 1872 by-election.

;Collingwood Arthur Collins resigned on 8 October 1873. The resulting 9 December 1873 by-election was won by William Gibbs.

;City of Dunedin Bathgate resigned in 1874 and was succeeded by Nathaniel Wales.

;City of Nelson Lightband resigned in 1872 to return to England. He was succeeded by David Luckie.

;Egmont Gisborne resigned in 1872 and was succeeded by Harry Atkinson.

;Franklin Clark resigned in 1874 and was succeeded by Joseph May.

;Kaiapoi Beswick resigned in 1867. He was succeeded by John Studholme.

;Manuherikia Baldwin resigned in 1867. He was succeeded by David Mervyn.

;Marsden Hull resigned in 1868. He was succeeded by John Munro.

;Mongonui Ball resigned in 1870. He was succeeded by Thomas Gillies on 30 March 1870.

;Mount Herbert Moorhouse was elected in the Mount Herbert electorate on 22 February 1866. He also stood in the Westland electorate and was returned 16 March 1866. He chose to represent Westland. A by-election was held on 27 July 1866 and Thomas Henry Potts was returned unopposed.

;New Plymouth Richardson resigned in 1867 and was succeeded by Harry Atkinson, who himself resigned in 1869. Thomas Kelly won the 1869 by-election.

;Newton Graham resigned in 1869 and was succeeded by Robert James Creighton.

;Northern Division Henderson resigned in 1867. The 6 July 1867 by-election was won by Thomas Macfarlane.

O'Neill resigned in 1869 and was succeeded by Henry Warner Farnall.

;Oamaru Campbell resigned in 1869 and was succeeded by Charles Christie Graham.

;Omata Atkinson resigned in 1867 and was succeeded in 1868 by Charles Brown, who himself resigned in 1870. Frederic Carrington was the successful candidate in the 1870 by-election.

;Parnell Whitaker resigned in 1867 and was succeeded by Charles Heaphy.

;Pensioner Settlements De Quincey resigned in 1867. The 5 August 1867 by-election was won by John Kerr. A second person, a Mr Jackson, was nominated, but the returning officer would not accept the nomination, as Jackson was not on the electoral roll. Thus, Kerr was declared elected unopposed.

;Picton Beauchamp resigned in 1867. He was succeeded by William Adams, who himself resigned in 1868. Courtenay Kenny won the 1868 by-election.

;Port Chalmers Dick, who was elected on 17 March 1866, resigned on 15 October 1866. He successfully contested the 15 December 1866 by-election, but resigned again on 26 April 1867. David Forsyth Main successfully contested the 1867 by-election.

;Raglan Newman resigned in 1867. He was succeeded by James Farmer.

;Rangitīkei Watt resigned in 1868. He was succeeded by William Fox, who won the 1868 by-election.

;Roslyn Hepburn resigned in 1868. He was succeeded by Henry Driver.

;Taieri Reid resigned in 1869. He was succeeded by Henry Howorth.

;Timaru Cox resigned in 1868. He was succeeded by Edward Stafford.

;Town of Lyttelton Hargreaves resigned in 1868. He was succeeded by John Thomas Peacock.

;Waikouaiti Murison resigned in 1868 and was succeeded by Robert Mitchell. Mitchell himself resigned in the following year and was replaced by Francis Rich.

;Waimea Oliver resigned in 1867. He was succeeded by Edward Baigent.

;Wallace McNeil resigned in 1869 and was succeeded by Cuthbert Cowan. Cowan himself resigned in the same year he got elected and was replaced by George Webster.

;Westland The electorate was abolished in 1867. A new electorate (Westland Boroughs) was established, and Moorhouse was transferred to it. --

Notes

References

• {{cite book |access-date = 23 June 2010
• {{cite book |access-date = 16 July 2010
• {{cite book |access-date = 26 June 2010
• {{cite book |access-date = 22 June 2010
• {{cite book |author-link=Michael King (historian)
• {{cite book |author-link=Guy Scholefield |orig-year= First ed. published 1913
• {{cite book |orig-year= First ed. published 1913

References

1. "History Buildings and grounds". New Zealand Parliament.
2. "Parliament timeline". New Zealand Parliament.
3. "General elections 1853–2005 – dates & turnout". Elections New Zealand.
4. "Representation Act 1870".
5. (31 July 1874). "House of Representatives". [[The Star (Christchurch).
6. (8 August 1874). "MR MONTGOMEEY AT AKAROA". [[The Star (Christchurch).
7. (10 August 1874). "LATEST TELEGRAMS". [[The Star (Christchurch).
8. (9 September 1872). "Monday, September 9, 1872". [[The Evening Post (New Zealand).
9. (1 March 1866). "Election Intelligence". Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle.
10. (21 March 1866). "Representation of Westland". West Coast Times.
11. (7 August 1866). "News of the Day". Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle.
12. (8 July 1867). "Northern Division Election". [[Daily Southern Cross]].
13. (6 August 1867). "PENSIONER SETTLEMENTS ELECTION. RETURN OF MR. KERR.". [[Daily Southern Cross]].