Peninsula was an

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 ...

electorate in 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 ...

from 1881 to 1893, based on the

Otago Peninsula The Otago Peninsula ( mi, Muaūpoko) is a long, hilly indented finger of land that forms the easternmost part of Dunedin, New Zealand. Volcanic in origin, it forms one wall of the eroded valley that now forms Otago Harbour. The peninsula lies sou ...

Population centres

The previous electoral redistribution was undertaken in 1875 for the 1875–1876 election. In the six years since, New Zealand's European population had increased by 65%. In the 1881 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 European representatives to 91 (up from 84 since the 1875–76 election). The number of Māori electorates was held at four. The House further decided that electorates should not have more than one representative, which led to 35 new electorates being formed, including Peninsula, and two electorates that had previously been abolished to be recreated. This necessitated a major disruption to existing boundaries.

History

The electorate was formed for the and existed for four parliamentary terms until 1893. It was represented by three

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 ...

. The first election was contested by James Seaton,

William Cutten William Henry Cutten (10 April 1822 – 30 June 1883) was a New Zealand politician from the Otago region. Biography Cutten was born in London in 1822. He received a good education and then studied law, which earned him a job at the departme ...

, Michael Donnelly, and James Lewis. They received 296, 284, 203 and 54 votes, respectively. Seaton had previously represented in the 6th Parliament, whilst Cutten was a member of the 1st Parliament and had represented in 1878–1879. Seaton died on 18 November 1882 in an accident, which caused a by-election. The by-election was held on 22 January and contested by

William Larnach William James Mudie Larnach (27 January 1833 – 12 October 1898) was a New Zealand businessman and politician. He is known for his extravagant incomplete house near Dunedin called Larnach's castle by his opponents and now known as Larnach C ...

, Bishop Moran, and Michael Donnelly. At the nomination meeting, Bishop Moran received the highest number of votes, but at the election, he came a distant last. Larnach, Donnelly, and Moran received 667, 182, and 138 votes, respectively. The was contested by Larnach, Owen James Hodge, and John Wells. They received 658, 352 and 14 votes, respectively. In the , Larnach was opposed by Thomas Begg. Larnach obtained 627 votes versus 457 for Begg. In the , Larnach was opposed by William Earnshaw. The election was won by Earnshaw, who received 780 votes versus 660 for Larnach. Earnshaw represent the Peninsula electorate until the end of the parliamentary term in 1893, when the electorate was abolished. Earnshaw successfully contested the new multi-member electorate in the .

Members of Parliament

Key

Election results

1890 election

Notes

References

* * {{Historic electorates of New Zealand , state=collapsed Historical electorates of New Zealand 1881 establishments in New Zealand 1893 disestablishments in New Zealand Politics of Otago