Wairarapa South was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate from 1881 to 1887.

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 Wairarapa South, and two electorates that had previously been abolished to be recreated. This necessitated a major disruption to existing boundaries. Wairarapa South was centred on the smaller Wairarapa towns of

Featherston Featherston is a surname of English origin, at least as old as the 12th century. The link with "Featherstone" is probably not traceable, but people researching both spellings (and others such as "de Fetherestanhalgh") contribute to the collection o ...

, Greytown, Carterton and

Martinborough Martinborough ( mi, Wharekaka) is a town in the South Wairarapa District, in the Wellington region of New Zealand. It is 65 kilometres east of Wellington and 35 kilometres south-west of Masterton. The town has a resident population of The town ...

History

The Wairarapa South electorate in the

Wairarapa The Wairarapa (; ), a geographical region of New Zealand, lies in the south-eastern corner of the North Island, east of metropolitan Wellington and south-west of the Hawke's Bay Region. It is lightly populated, having several rural service ...

district of New Zealand and the adjacent Wairarapa North electorate were formed for the by splitting the old electorate. These electorates existed for two parliamentary terms from 1881 to 1887, when Wairarapa North was renamed

Masterton Masterton ( mi, Whakaoriori), a large town in the Greater Wellington Region of New Zealand, operates as the seat of the Masterton District (a territorial authority or local-government district). It is the largest town in the Wairarapa, a r ...

, and Wairarapa South became the new Wairarapa electorate. Between 1871 and 1881, the previous Wairarapa electorate had been a two-member electorate. One of the incumbents, George Beetham, successfully stood in 1881 in the Wairarapa North electorate. The other incumbent, Henry Bunny, who had represented Wairarapa since a by-election in , contested the Wairarapa South electorate in 1881 and was challenged by Walter Clarke Buchanan and Burton Boys. Bunny, Buchanan and Boys received 370, 436, and 133 votes, respectively, with Buchanan thus defeating Bunny. The was contested by Bunny and Buchanan, who received 504 and 565 votes, respectively, and Buchanan was thus declared re-elected. In 1887, Buchanan won the reconstituted Wairarapa electorate, again defeating Bunny.

Election results

Wairarapa South was represented by one MP for all six years. Key

Notes

References

* * {{Historic electorates of New Zealand , state=collapsed Historical electorates of New Zealand Politics of the Wellington Region Wairarapa 1881 establishments in New Zealand 1887 disestablishments in New Zealand