The Bruce by-election 1862 was a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

held in the multi-member electorate during the

3rd New Zealand Parliament The 3rd New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand. Elections for this term were held between 12 December 1860 and 28 March 1861 in 43 electorates to elect 53 MPs. Two electorates were added to this during this term, Go ...

, on 31 July 1862. The by-election was caused by the death of incumbent MP

Charles Kettle Charles Henry Kettle (6 April 1821 – 3 June 1863) surveyed the city of Dunedin in New Zealand, imposing a bold design on a challenging landscape. He was aiming to create a Romantic effect and incidentally produced the world's steepest st ...

on 5 June, and was won by

Edward Cargill Edward Bowes Cargill (9 October 1823 – 9 August 1903) was a 19th-century businessman and Member of Parliament in Dunedin, Otago, New Zealand. He was the Mayor of Dunedin from 1897 to 1898. Early life Cargill was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, i ...

Background

The Bruce electorate was formed in the 1860 electoral redistribution. It covered the rural area surrounding

Dunedin Dunedin ( ; mi, Ōtepoti) is the second-largest city in the South Island of New Zealand (after Christchurch), and the principal city of the Otago region. Its name comes from , the Scottish Gaelic name for Edinburgh, the capital of Scotland. Th ...

that had previously been part of the

Dunedin Country Dunedin Country was a parliamentary electorate in the rural area surrounding the city of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand, from 1853 to 1860. It was a two-member electorate and was represented by a total of five members of parliament. Population c ...

electorate. The Bruce electorate was a two-member constituency.

and

Thomas Gillies Thomas Bannatyne Gillies (17 January 1828 – 26 July 1889) was a 19th-century New Zealand lawyer, judge and politician. Early life He was born at Rothesay on the Isle of Bute, Scotland, on 17 January 1828. He was the eldest of nine children of ...

were the initial representatives. Kettle died on 5 June 1862, and this caused the by-election. The

Otago Gold Rush The Otago Gold Rush (often called the Central Otago Gold Rush) was a gold rush that occurred during the 1860s in Central Otago, New Zealand. This was the country's biggest gold strike, and led to a rapid influx of foreign miners to the area – ...

had started in May 1861 and the wider area experienced a significant increase in population, including the Bruce electorate. The lists of registered electors in several electorate, including Bruce, were revised during July 1862. The Miners' Representation Act, 1860 allowed miners to also vote under certain conditions, and they were not registered in lists; there were approximate 3,000 of them eligible in the Bruce electorate. It is thus not possible to say how many electors were qualified to vote in the by-election. Towards the end of June, it became known that

William Baldwin William Joseph Baldwin (born February 21, 1963), Note: While birthplace is routinely listed as Massapequa, that town has no hospital, and brother Alec Baldwin was born in nearby Amityville, which does. known also as Billy Baldwin,is an America ...

, the gold fields commissioner at

Waitahuna Waitahuna is a small rural hamlet in the Otago region of New Zealand's South Island. It is from Lawrence. In the 19th century, the town thrived after the discovery of gold. The Waitahuna Gully Miner's Monument commemorates this discovery and t ...

, would be a candidate in the by-election. John Gillies, the father of

, acted as the returning officer for the by-election, and he set the nomination meeting for Monday, 28 July at 12 noon. At that meeting, F. C. Fulton (a brother of James Fulton) proposed and

Otago Provincial Council The Otago Province was a province of New Zealand until the abolition of provincial government in 1876. The capital of the province was Dunedin. Southland Province split from Otago in 1861, but became part of the province again in 1870. Area an ...

lor Andrew Todd seconded Baldwin. The second candidate,

, was proposed by William Reynolds and seconded by Johnny Jones, a former business partner of Cargill. The third person to be proposed was John Cargill, the brother of Edward Cargill, but this came as a surprise to the former who stated that he was not available for election. The two candidates then addressed the electors, and the obvious policy difference between them was that Baldwin was a proponent of separation of the South Island from the North Island, whilst Cargill supported one New Zealand.

Julius Vogel Sir Julius Vogel (24 February 1835 – 12 March 1899) was the eighth premier of New Zealand. His administration is best remembered for the issuing of bonds to fund railway construction and other public works. He was the first Jewish prime min ...

, himself a strong proponent of the separation question, then put some hard questions to Cargill. The meeting finished with a show of hands in favour of Cargill (42 to 8 hands), and Baldwin demanded a poll.

Results

Polling booths were in Dunedin at the court house, and at the school houses in

East Taieri East Taieri is a small township, located between Mosgiel and Allanton in New Zealand's Otago region. It lies on State Highway 1 en route between the city of Dunedin and its airport at Momona. It lies close to the southeastern edge of the Taieri ...

and

Tokomairiro Milton, formerly known as Tokomairiro or Tokomairaro, is a town of over 2,000 people, located on State Highway 1, 50 kilometres to the south of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand. It lies on the floodplain of the Tokomairaro River, one branch of whic ...

(since renamed to

Milton Milton may refer to: Names * Milton (surname), a surname (and list of people with that surname) ** John Milton (1608–1674), English poet * Milton (given name) ** Milton Friedman (1912–2006), Nobel laureate in Economics, author of '' Free t ...

), and Warepa (a locality near Balclutha). The election was held on Thursday, 31 July, between 9am and 4 pm. By Saturday, 2 August, the Dunedin newspapers had not received the results from the Warepa booth, but Cargill was leading by 20 votes. The Warepa results were received later that morning, and the returning officer declared the official results that day. There were just two votes at Warepa, with one for each candidate, hence the majority did not change and Cargill was declared elected. Cargill represented the Bruce electorate until 1865, when he resigned. He was succeeded by

James Macandrew James Macandrew (1819(?) – 25 February 1887) was a New Zealand ship-owner and politician. He served as a Member of Parliament from 1853 to 1887 and as the last Superintendent of Otago Province. Early life Macandrew was born in Scotland, prob ...

in the July 1865 by-election. Baldwin was elected in the 1863 supplementary election in the electorate.

Notes

References

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bruce by-election, 1862 Bruce 1862 1862 elections in New Zealand Politics of Otago