Westland 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

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 ...

of New Zealand from 1866 to 1868 and 1890 to 1972. In 1972 the Tasman and

electorates replaced the former Buller and Westland electorates.

Population centres

In the 1865 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 ...

focussed its review of electorates to

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 only, as the

Central 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 – ...

had caused significant population growth, and a redistribution of the existing population. Fifteen additional South Island electorates were created, including Westland, and the number of Members of Parliament was increased by 13 to 70. In December 1887, the

voted to reduce its membership from general electorates from 91 to 70. The 1890 electoral redistribution used the same 1886 census data used for the 1887 electoral redistribution. In addition, three-member electorates were introduced in the four main centres. This resulted in a major restructuring of electorates, and Westland was one of eight electorates to be re-created for the 1890 election.

History

The electorate was formed for the .

William Sefton Moorhouse William Sefton Moorhouse ( 1825 – 15 September 1881) was a British-born New Zealand politician. He was the second Superintendent of Canterbury Province. Early life Moorhouse was born in Yorkshire, England, and baptised on 18 December 1825; th ...

stood in the electorate and was returned 16 March 1866 in favour of William Shaw. The general election was held on 22 February 1866 in the Mount Herbert electorate, in which Moorhouse was returned unopposed. Having been elected in two electorates, Moorhouse chose to represent Westland. Moorhouse resigned on 20 February 1868.

Joseph Grimmond Joseph Grimmond (1843 – 27 November 1924) was a gold miner and politician from the West Coast, New Zealand. He was mayor of Ross for many years, represented the Hokitika electorate in the House of Representatives for one term, and was late ...

, who had since 1887 represented the Hokitika electorate, contested the Westland electorate in the 1890 general election against

Richard Seddon Richard John Seddon (22 June 1845 – 10 June 1906) was a New Zealand politician who served as the List of prime ministers of New Zealand, 15th Prime Minister of New Zealand, premier (prime minister) of New Zealand from 1893 until his death. ...

, with Seddon being successful. In the , Seddon was returned unopposed. In the , Seddon was again opposed by Grimmond but remained successful. Seddon held the electorate until his death in 1906. He was succeeded by his son Tom, who in turn represented the electorate until his defeat in the by

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

's James O'Brien.

Members of Parliament

The electorate was represented by seven

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

1969 election

1966 election

1963 election

1960 election

1957 election

1954 election

1951 election

1949 election

1947 by-election

1946 election

1931 election

1928 election

1925 election

1922 election

1919 election

1906 by-election

1905 election

1902 election

1899 election

1896 election

1893 election

1890 election

1866 election

Notes

References

* * * * {{Historic electorates of New Zealand , state=collapsed Historical electorates of New Zealand 1865 establishments in New Zealand 1890 establishments in New Zealand 1868 disestablishments in New Zealand 1972 disestablishments in New Zealand Politics of the West Coast, New Zealand