9th New Zealand Parliament

Sessions

The 9th Parliament opened on 7 August 1884, following the 1884 general election. It sat for four sessions, and was prorogued on 15 July 1887.

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

The second Atkinson Ministry had been in power since 25 September 1883. This Ministry finished on 16 August 1884, just after the 1884 general election for the 9th Parliament. It was succeeded by the short-lived first Stout-Vogel Ministry, which lasted only twelve days until 28 August 1884. It was followed by an equally short third Atkinson Ministry, which folded on 3 September 1884. The second Stout-Vogel Ministry lasted to 8 October 1887, just after the 1887 general election to determine the composition of the 10th Parliament.

Electorates

The same 95 electorates that were defined through the 1881 electoral redistribution were used for the 1884 election. The next electoral redistribution was held in 1887 in preparation for the .

Initial composition of the 9th Parliament

95 seats were created across the electorates.

Changes during term

There were a number of changes during the term of the 9th Parliament.

;Ashley Walker resigned in 1867. Henry Tancred won the subsequent 1867 by-election. --

Notes

References

• {{cite book |access-date = 23 June 2010
• {{cite book |access-date = 16 July 2010
• {{cite book |access-date = 26 June 2010
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• {{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.