The 21st New Zealand Parliament was a term of the

New Zealand Parliament The New Zealand Parliament ( mi, Pāremata Aotearoa) is the unicameral legislature of New Zealand, consisting of the King of New Zealand ( King-in-Parliament) and the New Zealand House of Representatives. The King is usually represented by h ...

. It was elected at the 1922 general election in December of that year.

1922 general election

The 1922 general election was held on Monday, 6 December in the

Māori electorates In New Zealand politics, Māori electorates, colloquially known as the Māori seats, are a special category of electorate that give reserved positions to representatives of Māori in the New Zealand Parliament. Every area in New Zealand is ...

and on Tuesday, 7 December in the general electorates, respectively. A total of 80 MPs were elected; 45 represented

North Island The North Island, also officially named Te Ika-a-Māui, is one of the two main islands of New Zealand, separated from the larger but much less populous South Island by the Cook Strait. The island's area is , making it the world's 14th-largest ...

electorates, 31 represented

South Island The South Island, also officially named , is the larger of the two major islands of New Zealand in surface area, the other being the smaller but more populous North Island. It is bordered to the north by Cook Strait, to the west by the Tasman ...

electorates, and the remaining four represented Māori electorates. 700,111 voters were enrolled and the official turnout at the election was 88.7%.

Sessions

The 21st Parliament sat for four sessions (there were two sessions in 1923), and was prorogued on 14 October 1925.

Party standings

Start of Parliament

End of Parliament

Ministries

The second Massey Ministry led by

William Massey William Ferguson Massey (26 March 1856 – 10 May 1925), commonly known as Bill Massey, was a politician who served as the 19th prime minister of New Zealand from May 1912 to May 1925. He was the founding leader of the Reform Party, New Zea ...

of the Reform Party had come to power in August 1919. Massey ruled until his death on 10 May 1925.

Francis Bell Francis Bell may refer to: * Arthur Bell (martyr) (1590–1643), also known as Francis Bell, Franciscan and English martyr *Dillon Bell (Francis Dillon Bell; 1822–1898), New Zealand politician, father of the New Zealand Prime Minister * Francis B ...

had been acting Prime Minister during Massey's illness and took on the temporary leadership following Massey's death. Bell led the Bell Ministry from 14 to 30 May 1925, when the Reform Party elected

Gordon Coates Joseph Gordon Coates (3 February 1878 – 27 May 1943) served as the 21st prime minister of New Zealand from 1925 to 1928. He was the third successive Reform prime minister since 1912. Born in rural Northland, Coates grew up on a cattle run ...

as its leader. The Coates Ministry was in place for the remainder of the parliamentary term and for the duration of the 22nd Parliament. Reform had a narrow margin of three votes in the house if Liberal and Labour combined as they did when the house resumed in February 1923 (but Bell, Witty and Isitt voted with Massey). Hence the Government could not introduce any controversial legislation, and Massey said it was "hell most of the time".

Initial composition of the 21st Parliament

By-elections during 21st Parliament

There were a number of changes during the term of the 21st Parliament.

Notes

References

* * * * {{cite book , author-link=Guy Scholefield , last= Scholefield , title= New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 , edition=3rd , orig-year= First ed. published 1913 , year= 1950 , publisher=Govt. Printer , location= Wellington 21