Gold Field Towns (New Zealand electorate)

The Goldfields Towns electorate was a 19th-century parliamentary electorate in the Otago region of New Zealand.

History

The electorate existed from 1866 to 1870 for the term of the 4th New Zealand Parliament.[1]

The ten towns covered were Queenstown, Arrowtown, Cromwell, Clyde, Alexandra, Dunstan Creek, Roxburgh, Hamilton, Lawrence and Havelock.

The electorate was created because of the large influx of people to Otago during the Otago Gold Rush, and because the franchise had been extended to males aged 21 years and over who had held a miner’s right continuously for at least three (or six) months. No electoral rolls were established for these districts, and to vote a miner just presented his miner’s licence to the election official. Outside Otago where no special Goldfields electorate existed, miners could register as electors in the ordinary electoral district where they lived.

Members

The electorate was represented by one MP.[2]

Election Winner
1866 James Benn Bradshaw[3] (Independent)

See also

References

  1. Scholefield, Guy (1950) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 (3rd ed.). Wellington: Govt. Printer. p. 158.
  2. Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. p. 263. OCLC 154283103.
  3. T. J., 2B36. James Benn Bradshaigh "26 July 2010" Check |url= value (help). Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage.
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