The Gold Field Towns electorate was a 19th-century parliamentary electorate in the

Otago Otago (, ; mi, Ōtākou ) is a region of New Zealand located in the southern half of the South Island administered by the Otago Regional Council. It has an area of approximately , making it the country's second largest local government reg ...

region of New Zealand. It was the second gold mining electorate in Otago, one of three special interest constituencies created to meet the needs of gold miners; the third electorate was located on the

West Coast West Coast or west coast may refer to: Geography Australia * Western Australia *Regions of South Australia#Weather forecasting, West Coast of South Australia * West Coast, Tasmania **West Coast Range, mountain range in the region Canada * Britis ...

. The Gold Field Towns electorate was in 1865, with the first (and only) elections in the following year, and it returned one member. All three of these special interest electorates were abolished in 1870. A unique feature of the Gold Field Towns electorate was that it covered ten separate towns within the area of the

Gold Fields Gold Fields Limited (formerly The Gold Fields of South Africa) is one of the world's largest gold mining firms. Headquartered in Johannesburg, South Africa, the company is listed on both the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE) and the New York Sto ...

, which in turn was overlaid of a number of general electorates in the Otago area. Voting was open to those who had held a mining license for some time. As such,

suffrage Suffrage, political franchise, or simply franchise, is the right to vote in representative democracy, public, political elections and referendums (although the term is sometimes used for any right to vote). In some languages, and occasionally i ...

was more relaxed than elsewhere in New Zealand, as voting was otherwise tied to property ownership. Another feature unique to the gold mining electorates was that no electoral rolls were prepared, but voting could be done upon showing a complying miner's license.

Population centres

Gold Field Towns was the second gold mining electorate created in Otago. The first mining electorate,

, had been created in 1862 and had been superimposed on most of Otago and

Southland Southland may refer to: Places Canada * Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia New Zealand * Southland Region, a region of New Zealand * Southland County, a former New Zealand county * Southland District, part of the wider Southland Re ...

. An electoral redistribution was carried out in 1865 that applied from the . From 1866, ten gold mining towns across Otago were covered by the Gold Field Towns electorate instead of the Gold Fields electorate, and they were Queenstown,

Arrowtown Arrowtown (Māori: ''Haehaenui'') is a historic gold mining town in the Otago region of the South Island of New Zealand. Arrowtown is located on the banks of the Arrow River approximately 7.5 km from State Highway 6. Arrowtown is locat ...

Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

Clyde Clyde may refer to: People * Clyde (given name) * Clyde (surname) Places For townships see also Clyde Township Australia * Clyde, New South Wales * Clyde, Victoria * Clyde River, New South Wales Canada * Clyde, Alberta * Clyde, Ontario, a tow ...

Alexandra Alexandra () is the feminine form of the given name Alexander (, ). Etymologically, the name is a compound of the Greek verb (; meaning 'to defend') and (; GEN , ; meaning 'man'). Thus it may be roughly translated as "defender of man" or "prot ...

, Dunstan Creek (Saint Bathans),

Roxburgh Roxburgh () is a civil parish and formerly a royal burgh, in the historic county of Roxburghshire in the Scottish Borders, Scotland. It was an important trading burgh in High Medieval to early modern Scotland. In the Middle Ages it had at leas ...

, Hamiltons,

Lawrence Lawrence may refer to: Education Colleges and universities * Lawrence Technological University, a university in Southfield, Michigan, United States * Lawrence University, a liberal arts university in Appleton, Wisconsin, United States Preparator ...

, and Havelock.

History

Gold mining electorates were created because of the large influx of people to Otago during 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 – ...

. Under the ''Miners' Representation Act, 1862'', the franchise was 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 gold mining electorate existed, miners could register as electors in the ordinary electoral district where they lived. The Gold Field Towns electorate existed from 1866 to 1870 for the term of the

4th New Zealand Parliament The 4th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand. Elections for this term were held in 61 electorates between 12 February and 6 April 1866 to elect 70 MPs. Parliament was prorogued in late 1870. During the term of this ...

. It was a single-member electorate and during the time of its existence, it was represented by

James Benn Bradshaw James Benn Bradshaigh Bradshaw (22 September 1832 – 1 September 1886) was a 19th-century member of parliament in the Otago region of New Zealand. He also played cricket. Private life He was born in Barton Blount, South Derbyshire, England, t ...

. The 1866 election was contested by three candidates:

David Forsyth Main David Forsyth Main (1831 – 27 July 1880) was a 19th-century member of parliament in Otago, New Zealand. Main was one of three candidates in the electorate in the , when he came a close second to James Benn Bradshaw. Main represented the ...

, and

Henry Manders Isaac Henry Manders (11 July 1829 – 5 January 1891) was a New Zealand politician who was a Member of Parliament in the Otago region. Manders was born in England and baptised in Finsbury, London. He lived in Australia in the 1850s and 1860s wi ...

. Bradshaw narrowly won the election over Main, with Manders coming a distant last.

Members of Parliament

The electorate was represented by one MP.

Election results

1866 election

Individual results by polling station were as follows:

External links

* * * * * * * * *

Notes

References

* * {{Historic electorates of New Zealand , state=collapsed Historical electorates of New Zealand Otago Gold Rush 1865 establishments in New Zealand 1870 disestablishments in New Zealand