Hamilton (New Zealand electorate)

Hamilton is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate that existed from 1922 to 1969. The electorate covered the urban area of the city of Hamilton. In 1969, the city was part of two rural electorates, Hamilton East and Waikato. For the 1972 election, the nature of Hamilton East changed to urban, and the Hamilton West electorate complements it to form a second urban electorate.

Five members of parliament have served the Hamilton electorate over its 47 years of existence. Two of them died in office, and both deaths caused by-elections.

Population centres

In the 1922 electoral redistribution, the North Island gained one electorate from the South Island due to faster population growth. The Bruce electorate was abolished, and the Hamilton electorate was created for the first time. For the purposes of the country quota, the initial electorate was classed as two thirds urban and one third rural, and covered the city of Hamilton.

Through an amendment in the Electoral Act in 1965, the number of electorates in the South Island was fixed at 25, an increase of one since the 1962 electoral redistribution. It was accepted that through the more rapid population growth in the North Island, the number of its electorates would continue to increase, and to keep proportionality, three new electorates were allowed for in the 1967 electoral redistribution for the next election. In the North Island, five electorates were newly created and one electorate was reconstituted while three electorates were abolished (including Hamilton). In the South Island, three electorates were newly created and one electorate was reconstituted while three electorates were abolished. The overall effect of the required changes was highly disruptive to existing electorates, with all but three electorates having their boundaries altered. These changes came into effect with the 1969 election.

History

The Hamilton electorate was first used in the 1922 election. The electorate's first representative was Alexander Young of the Reform Party, who had since the 1911 election represented the Waikato electorate, but chose to stand in the new electorate in 1922 instead. Young remained the representative until the 1935 election, when he was defeated by Labour's Charles Barrell. Barrell in turn was defeated in the 1943 election by National's Frank Findlay, who died in office on 31 March 1945.

Findlay's death caused the 1943 by-election, which was won by National's Hilda Ross. Ross died in office on 6 March 1959, and this caused the 1959 by-election, which was won by National's Lance Adams-Schneider. Adams-Schneider served until the end of the term in 1969, when the electorate was abolished. He transferred to the Waikato electorate, which covered the area east of the Waikato River and that was recreated for the 1969 election.

The 1967 electoral redistribution created a new electorate called Hamilton West electorate. Its eastern boundary was the Waikato River, but it incorporated much of the former Waipa electorate, extended to the Tasman Sea, and was thus more rural in nature.

The 1972 electoral redistribution created the Hamilton East electorate and at the same time, the Hamilton West electorate lost its rural hinterland to Raglan. Hence, two urban electorates covered Hamilton for the 1972 election.

Members of Parliament

Key

  Reform     Labour     National     Independent  

Election	Winner
1922 election		Alexander Young
1925 election
1928 election
1931 election
1935 election		Charles Barrell
1938 election
1943 election		Frank Findlay
1945 by-election		Hilda Ross
1946 election
1949 election
1951 election
1954 election
1957 election
1959 by-election		Lance Adams-Schneider
1960 election
1963 election
1966 election
(Electorate abolished 1969)

Election results

1959 by-election

Hamilton by-election, 1959

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Lance Adams-Schneider	7,832	57.89
	Labour	E A Waters	4,844	35.81
	Social Credit	F C Roberts	852	6.30
Majority			2,988	22.09
Informal votes			27	0.20
Turnout			13,555	78.40
Registered electors			17,289
	National hold		Swing

1943 election

General election, 1943: Hamilton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Frank Finlay	7,660	48.04
	Labour	Charles Barrell	7,206	45.20
	Democratic Labour	Alfred E. Allen	885	5.55
	Real Democracy Movement	William Henry Thompson	193	1.21
Majority			454	2.85
Informal votes			167	1.04
Turnout			16,111	92.21
Registered electors			17,473

Table footnotes:

1938 election

General election, 1938: Hamilton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Charles Barrell	7,722	56.85
	National	Albert William Grant	5,862	43.15
Majority			1,860	13.69
Informal votes			88	0.64
Turnout			13,672	93.31
Registered electors			14,653

1931 election

General election, 1931: Hamilton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform	Alexander Young	5,874	65.17	+20.36
	Labour	Hubert Beebe	2,579	28.61
	Independent	Charles Lafferty	561	6.22
Majority			3,295	36.55	+25.94
Informal votes			94	1.03	-0.22
Turnout			9,108	74.58	-9.13
Registered electors			12,213

1928 election

General election, 1928: Hamilton

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform	Alexander Young	4,529	44.81
	Independent	Samuel Charles Lye (Liberal-Labour)	3,456	34.19
	Labour	Frederick Schramm	2,123	21.00
Majority			1,073	10.62
Informal votes			128	1.25
Turnout			10,236	83.71
Registered electors			12,228