St Albans 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
The prince-electors (german: Kurfürst pl. , cz, Kurfiřt, ...
in
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
, New Zealand from 1881 to 1890, then from 1946 to 1996.
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 St Albans, and two electorates that had previously been abolished to be recreated. This necessitated a major disruption to existing boundaries.
The
1941 New Zealand census 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
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 ...
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 St Albans.
The electorate was centred on the
Christchurch
Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...
suburb of
St Albans
St Albans () is a cathedral city in Hertfordshire, England, east of Hemel Hempstead and west of Hatfield, Hertfordshire, Hatfield, north-west of London, south-west of Welwyn Garden City and south-east of Luton. St Albans was the first major ...
.
History
The electorate was first created for the
1881 general election, held on 9 December.
John Evans Brown
John Evans Brown (16 February 1827 – 9 July 1895) was a 19th-century Member of Parliament in New Zealand. Born in Pennsylvania, he came to New Zealand after spending time in Australia, where he was a farmer and US Consul. He farmed in Canterbu ...
contested the electorate with J. L. Wilson and A. W. O'Neill. They received 218, 168 and 85 votes, respectively. Brown was declared elected.
Brown did not stand for re-election in the 1884 general election.
In
1884 general election, held on 22 July,
Francis James Garrick successfully stood for the electorate against two other candidates and obtained a comfortable victory, gaining 396 out of 477 votes.
Garrick stood again in the electorate in the
1887 general election, against
William Pember Reeves
William Pember Reeves (10 February 1857 – 16 May 1932) was a New Zealand politician, cricketer, historian and poet who promoted social reform.
Early life and career
Reeves's parents were William Reeves, who was a journalist and politician ...
. At the election on 26 September, Reeves and Garrick received 802 and 634 votes, respectively. With a majority of 164 votes, Reeves was the successful candidate.
The electorate was abolished at the end of the parliamentary term in 1890 and Reeves successfully contested the
Christchurch electorate.
The electorate was recreated in 1946.
Jack Watts from the
National Party was the representative from 1946 to 1957, when he successfully contested the
Fendalton electorate. St Albans went to
Neville Pickering
Neville George Pickering (18 November 1923 – 25 June 1988) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.
Biography Early life
Pickering was born in Hāwera in 1923. He was educated at Hamilton Technical College where he was also keen s ...
of the
Labour Party, who lost the electorate at the next election in
1960 to National's
Bert Walker. Walker represented St Albans until 1969, when he successfully contested the
Papanui electorate.
St Albans was won by Labour's
Roger Drayton in the
1969 general election. He retired after three terms, and the
1978 general election was won by Labour's
David Caygill
David Francis Caygill (born 15 November 1948) is a former New Zealand politician. Caygill was born and raised in Christchurch. He entered politics in 1971 as Christchurch's youngest city councillor at the age of 22. He served as a Member of Pa ...
, who held the electorate until it was abolished in 1996.
Members of Parliament
The electorate was represented by eight
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 ...
:
Key
Election results
1993 election
1990 election
1987 election
1984 election
1981 election
1978 election
1975 election
1972 election
1969 election
1966 election
1963 election
1960 election
1957 election
1954 election
1951 election
1949 election
1946 election
Notes
References
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{{Historic electorates of New Zealand , state=collapsed
1881 establishments in New Zealand
1996 disestablishments in New Zealand
Historical electorates of New Zealand
Politics of Christchurch
History of Christchurch
1946 establishments in New Zealand
1890 disestablishments in New Zealand