Southern Maori

For the southern dialect of the Māori language, see Māori language#South Island dialects.

Southern Maori was one of the four original New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorates, from 1868 to 1996.

Population centres

From its initial definition of the Maori electorates in 1867 to the 1954 Maori electoral boundary redefinition, the Southern Maori electorate covered the entire South Island plus it included Stewart Island.[1] It did not include the Chatham Islands, which did not belong to any Maori electorate until after a change to the Legislative Act and from the 1922 election, the Chatham Islands belonged to the Western Maori electorate.[2] The 1954 redefinition responded to the fact that the Southern Maori electorate had a much lower voter base than the three other Maori electorates, and this was responded to by adding the south-eastern part of the North Island to the Southern Maori electorate. Population centres that came to the electorate through this measure included Wellington, Masterton, Palmerston North, Napier, and Wairoa. These changes became effective with the 1954 election.[3]

The next redistribution of Maori electoral boundaries was carried out in 1983, just after the responsibility for doing so had been transferred to the Representation Commission. The North Island boundaries of the Southern Maori electorate were adjusted, and Palmerston North transferred to the Western Maori electorate in that process. These boundaries were used in the 1984 election.[4] Further boundary adjustments were undertaken in 1987, which became operative with the 1987 election.[5]

Tribal areas

Ngāi Tahu is the dominant tribe within the area covered by the electorate.

History

The Southern Maori electorate included the whole of the South Island to 1954, but its population was less than that of the other Māori electorates. In 1954 the boundaries were extended to include much of the East Coast of the North Island up to Napier and Wairoa in Hawkes Bay.

The first member of parliament for the new Māori electorate of Southern Maori from 1868 was John Patterson; he retired in 1870.

In 1932, Eruera Tirikatene won the electorate in a by-election and became the first Rātana MP; and then a Labour MP following the Labour-Ratana pact. When he died in 1967 his daughter Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan took over the seat in a 1967 by-election.

In 1996 with mixed-member proportional (MMP) representation, the Te Tai Tonga electorate covering the South Island took over the major part of the Southern Maori electorate. Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan who had held the Southern Maori electorate for many years narrowly lost the new seat to Tu Wyllie of New Zealand First and retired from politics.

Members of Parliament

The Southern Maori electorate was represented by ten Members of Parliament:[6]

Key

 Independent    Liberal    Reform    United    Ratana    Labour  

Election Winner
1868 Māori election John Patterson
1871 election Hori Kerei Taiaroa
1876 election
1879 by-election Ihaia Tainui
1879 election
1881 by-election Hori Kerei Taiaroa (2nd period)
1881 election
1884 election
1885 by-election Tame Parata
1887 election
1890 election
1893 election
1896 election
1899 election
1902 election
1905 election
1908 election
1911 election Taare Parata
1914 election
1918 by-election Hopere Uru
1919 election
1922 by-election Henare Uru
1922 election
1925 election
1928 election Tuiti Makitanara
1931 election
1932 by-election Eruera Tirikatene
1935 election
1938 election
1943 election
1946 election
1949 election
1951 election
1954 election
1957 election
1960 election
1963 election
1966 election
1967 by-election Whetu Tirikatene-Sullivan
1969 election
1972 election
1975 election
1978 election
1981 election
1984 election
1987 election
1990 election
1993 election

Election results

Note that the affiliation of many early candidates is not known.

1967 by-election

Southern Maori by-election, 1967
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Whetu Tirikatene 4,968 74.31
National M B P Pere 1,371 20.51
Social Credit J H MacDonald 347 5.18
Majority 3,597 53.80
Turnout 6,686 50.47

1932 by-election

Southern Maori by-election, 1932[7]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Ratana Eruera Tirikatene 425 44.69 +10.34
United/Reform William Teihoka Parata 184 19.35
Independent Peter McDonald 132 13.88
Independent Joseph Beaton (United/Reform Coalition) 113 11.88
Independent Tame Bragg (Reform) 94 9.88
Independent Wiremu Mihaka 3 0.32
Majority 241 25.34 +23.27
Turnout 951

1931 election

General election, 1931: Southern Maori[8]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
United Tuiti Makitanara 334 36.42
Ratana Eruera Tirikatene 315 34.35
Independent Hari Wi Katene 268 29.23
Majority 19 2.07
Turnout 917

1922 by-election

Southern Maori by-election, 1922
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Reform Henare Uru 364 44.83
Independent Teone Matapura Erihana 250 30.79 +16.69
Independent Wereta Tainui Pitama 108 13.30
Independent William Daniel Barrett 90 11.08
Majority 114 14.04 -16.05

1899 election

General election, 1899: Southern Maori[9]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Tame Parata 387 63.86 +24.64
Taituha Hape 219 36.14
Majority 168 27.72 +10.81
Turnout 606

1896 election

General election, 1896: Southern Maori[10][11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Tame Parata 262 39.22 -27.63
Thomas Ellison 149 22.31
Riki Te Mairaki Taiaroa 144 21.56
Teoti Pita Mutu 113 16.92 -16.24
Majority 391 11.93 -16.78
Turnout 668

1893 election

General election, 1893: Southern Maori[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Liberal Tame Parata 367 66.85
Teoti Pita Mutu 182 33.15
Majority 185 33.70
Turnout 549

1887 election

General election, 1887: Southern Maori[13][14]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Tame Parata 140 33.49 -9.12
Independent Thomas Ellison 103 24.64
Independent Kahu 103 24.64
Independent Hone Taare Tikao 72 17.22 -10.03
Majority 37 8.85 -3.61
Turnout 418

1885 by-election

Southern Maori by-election, 1885[15]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Independent Tame Parata 147 42.61
Independent Henare Paratini[16] 104 30.14
Independent Hone Taare Tikao[17] 94 27.25
Majority 43 12.46
Turnout 345

See also

Notes

  1. McRobie 1989, pp. 132–139.
  2. McRobie 1989, p. 135.
  3. McRobie 1989, pp. 138f.
  4. McRobie 1989, pp. 140f.
  5. McRobie 1989, pp. 142f.
  6. Wilson 1985, p. 272.
  7. The General Election, 1931. Government Printer. 1932. p. 6. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  8. The General Election, 1931. Government Printer. 1932. p. 6. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  9. "The General Election, 1899". Wellington: Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives. 19 June 1900. p. 3. Retrieved 15 March 2014.
  10. "Untitled". The Evening Post LIII (1). 2 January 1897. p. 4. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  11. "The Maori Elections". The Press LIII (9591). 4 December 1896. p. 6. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  12. "The General Election, 1893". Government Printer. 1894. p. 3. Retrieved 19 November 2013.
  13. "The Maori Members". The Press XLIV (6861). 20 September 1887. p. 6. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  14. "The Southern Native Member". The Press XLIV (6856). 14 September 1887. p. 6. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  15. "Election of Maori Representative". Otago Daily Times (7287). 25 June 1885. p. 4. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  16. "The Southern Maori Election". The New Zealand Herald XXII (7363). 25 June 1885. p. 5. Retrieved 16 January 2014.
  17. "Southern Maori Election". The Timaru Herald XLI (3340). 11 June 1885. p. 3. Retrieved 16 January 2014.

References

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