The Onehunga by-election 1953 was a

by-election A by-election, also known as a special election in the United States and the Philippines, a bye-election in Ireland, a bypoll in India, or a Zimni election (Urdu: ضمنی انتخاب, supplementary election) in Pakistan, is an election used to f ...

held in the electorate in

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

during the term of the

30th New Zealand Parliament The 30th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the New Zealand Parliament. It was elected at the 1951 New Zealand general election, 1951 general election on 1 September of that year. 1951 general election The 1951 general election was held on S ...

, on 19 December 1953. The by-election was won by

Hugh Watt Hugh Watt (19 March 1912 – 4 February 1980) was a New Zealand politician who was a Labour member of Parliament and the acting prime minister of New Zealand between 31 August and 6 September 1974, following the death of Prime Minister Norma ...

of the Labour Party.

Background

The by-election was caused by the death of incumbent MP Arthur Osborne of the Labour Party on 15 November 1953. In early November 1953 Osborne announced that he was not seeking re-election and would retire at the 1954 general election due to ill health. As a result, Labour had already begun preparations to replace him in the electorate at the time of Osborne's death.

Candidates

;Labour There were two nominations for the Labour Party nomination: *

Martyn Finlay Allan "Martyn" Finlay (1 January 1912 – 20 January 1999) was a New Zealand lawyer and politician of the Labour Party. He was an MP in two separate spells and a member of two different governments, including being a minister in the latter wh ...

, an Auckland lawyer and former MP for (1946–1949) *

, a local engineering business owner and chairman of the Onehunga Labour Representation Committee The chairman of the Auckland Labour Representation Committee, Richard French "Dick" Barter, was also speculated as a candidate but he did sot seek the nomination. The Labour Party selected Watt as their candidate at a selection meeting on 30 November. He had stood unsuccessfully for Labour in in and in in . A month earlier he had been elected to the

Auckland Harbour Board The Auckland Harbour Board was a public body that operated the ports of both Auckland and Onehunga from 1871 to 1988 and was dissolved in 1989. Its successor organisation is Ports of Auckland, which assumed the possessions and responsibilities of ...

for the Onehunga, Newmarket and combined district. ;National Leonard George Bradley was selected as the National Party candidate. Bradley had contested Onehunga in the previous general election in 1951 against Osborne where he slightly increased National's share of the vote. At the 1949 election he had stood unsuccessfully for National in .

Results

The following table gives the election results:

Aftermath

Watt represented the electorate until he retired at the . Bradley stood for National in in and in , but was unsuccessful.

Notes

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Onehunga By-Election, 1953 By-elections in New Zealand 1953 elections in New Zealand Politics of the Auckland Region December 1953 events in New Zealand 1950s in Auckland