Parnell was a parliamentary

electorate Electorate may refer to: * The people who are eligible to vote in an election, especially their number e.g. the term ''size of (the) electorate'' * The dominion of a Prince-elector in the Holy Roman Empire until 1806 * An electoral district An ...

in the city of

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, New Zealand, from 1861 to 1954, with one break of eight years.

Population centres

In the 1860 electoral redistribution, the

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entitles. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often c ...

increased the number of representatives by 12, reflecting the immense population growth since the original electorates were established in 1853. The redistribution created 15 additional electorates with between one and three members, and Parnell was one of the single-member electorates. The electorates were distributed to

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

so that every province had at least two members. Within each province, the number of registered electors by electorate varied greatly. The Parnell electorate had 268 registered electors for the 1861 election. Over the years, Parnell sometimes comprised a small area, and sometimes it covered quite a large area. Much of the area covered fluctuated between the Parnell and electorates. In 1927 the Representation Commission proposed altering the Parnell boundaries; which if confirmed would have made the electorate "dry" or no-licence, and without an authority which could issue temporary licences for the Ellerslie and Alexandra Park raceways. Following objections, the boundary between the Parnell and electorates was adjusted to include a hotel in the Parnell electorate (so retaining its licensing committee).

John A. Lee John Alfred Alexander Lee (31 October 1891 – 13 June 1982) was a New Zealand politician and writer. He is one of the more prominent avowed socialism in New Zealand, socialists in New Zealand's political history. Lee was elected as a me ...

later claimed that this adjustment cost him his Auckland East seat in the . In the 1937 electoral redistribution, Parnell was abolished and replaced with the electorate, covering almost exactly the same area as Parnell had since the 1927 electoral redistribution. The

1941 New Zealand census The New Zealand Census of Population and Dwellings ( mi, Te Tatauranga o ngā Tāngata Huri Noa i Aotearoa me ō rātou Whare Noho) is a national population and housing census conducted by government department Statistics New Zealand every five y ...

had been postponed due to World War II, so the 1946 electoral redistribution had to take ten years of population growth and movements into account. The

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gained a further two electorates from the

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 ...

due to faster population growth. The abolition of the

country quota The country quota was a part of the New Zealand electoral system from 1881 until 1945, when it was abolished by the First Labour Government. Its effect was to make urbanUrban electorate were those that contained cities or boroughs of over 2000 pe ...

through the ''Electoral Amendment Act, 1945'' reduced the number and increased the size of rural electorates. None of the existing electorates remained unchanged, 27 electorates were abolished, 19 electorates were created for the first time, and eight former electorates were re-established, including Parnell. The Parnell electorate existed alongside the Remuera electorate. It was abolished again with the next electoral redistribution, which was held in 1952 and became effective with the . Most of the Parnell electorate's area went once again to the Remuera electorate.

History

The electorate was represented by ten

Members of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

Members of Parliament

Key

Election results

1951 election

1949 election

1946 election

1935 election

1931 election

1930 by-election

1928 election

1919 election

^b Rosetta Baume was one of three women in 1919 who stood at short notice when women were able to stand as candidates for election to parliament.

1911 election

1899 election

1890 election

Notes

References

* * {{Historic electorates of New Zealand , state=collapsed Historical electorates of New Zealand 1860 establishments in New Zealand 1938 disestablishments in New Zealand 1954 disestablishments in New Zealand 1946 establishments in New Zealand