The Wellington South by-election of 1918 was a by-election held in the electorate during the 19th New Zealand Parliament, on 19 December 1918. It was caused by the death of incumbent MP

Alfred Hindmarsh Alfred Humphrey Hindmarsh (18 April 1860 – 13 November 1918) was a New Zealand politician, lawyer and unionist. He died in the 1918 influenza epidemic. He served as the first leader of the modern New Zealand Labour Party. Early life Hindmars ...

, the leader of the Labour Party and was won by fellow party member

Bob Semple Robert Semple (21 October 1873 – 31 January 1955) was a union leader and later Minister of Public Works for the first Labour Government of New Zealand. He is also known for creating the Bob Semple tank. Early life He was born in Sofala, New ...

with a majority of 1,231.

Background

, a miners agent who was previously the organiser of the New Zealand Federation of Labour, was selected as the Labour Party candidate. The nomination was subject of much interest. The unsuccessful aspirants were Tom Brindle, Alec Monteith, John Read, Michael Reardon and Tom Young. Two Wellington City Councillors also stood as candidates. George Frost and John Castle offered themselves to the electorate, with Frost being endorsed by the Reform Party.

Results

The following table gives the election results:

References

Wellington South Wellington South was a Canadian federal electoral district represented in the House of Commons of Canada from 1867 to 1968. It was located in the province of Ontario. It was created by the British North America Act of 1867 as the "South Riding o ...

1918 elections in New Zealand 1910s in Wellington December 1918 events Events in Wellington Politics of the Wellington Region {{NewZealand-election-stub