Clutha was a New Zealand 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 ...

from 1866 to 1996.

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 entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

focussed its review of electorates to

South Island The South Island ( , 'the waters of Pounamu, Greenstone') is the largest of the three major islands of New Zealand by surface area, the others being the smaller but more populous North Island and Stewart Island. It is bordered to the north by ...

electorates only, as the

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 Clutha, and the number of Members of Parliament was increased by 13 to 70. This electorate covered

South Otago South Otago lies in the south east of the South Island of New Zealand. As the name suggests, it forms the southernmost part of the geographical region of Otago. The exact definition of the area designated as South Otago is imprecise, as the area ...

and contained the settlements of Balclutha, Kaitangata, and

Owaka Owaka is a small town in the Clutha District of South Otago, in the South Island of New Zealand. It is the largest community in the rugged, forested The Catlins, Catlins area, close to the border with Southland Region, Southland, some south o ...

. It was later enlarged to include much of the

Bruce The English language name Bruce arrived in Scotland with the Normans, from the place name Brix, Manche in Normandy, France, meaning "the willowlands". Initially promulgated via the descendants of king Robert the Bruce (1274−1329), it has been ...

electorate, Including the town of Milton.

History

The electorate was established in 1865 for the . The first representative was James Macandrew, who had served on all previous parliaments. At the , Macandrew successfully stood in the , and Clutha was won by James Thomson. In the , Thomson was defeated by Thomas Mackenzie. Mackenzie retired from Parliament at the end of the third term for Clutha in 1896. The was won by James Thomson, who thus started his second period of service. Thomson retired after three terms in 1905, and this was also the end of his political career. * Alexander Malcolm 1905–22 * John Edie 1922–25 * Fred Waite 1925–31 * Peter McSkimming 1931–35 In the 1996 election, the first MMP election, the electorate was combined with the adjacent Wallace electorate into the Clutha-Southland electorate.

Members of Parliament

The electorate was represented by ten Members of Parliament: Key

Election results

1958 supplementary election

On 26 November 1957, Bruce Waters, the Labour candidate for Clutha was admitted to Balclutha Public Hospital after a car collision. As a result Waters was unable to engage in any further election campaigning. Due to this development the National and Social Credit candidates cancelled their remaining campaign meetings. Waters died on 29 November causing the election to be delayed. On December 4, after the general election, the outgoing Prime Minister (

Keith Holyoake Sir Keith Jacka Holyoake (11 February 1904 – 8 December 1983) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 26th prime minister of New Zealand, serving for a brief period in 1957 and then from 1960 to 1972, and also as the 13th governor-g ...

) and incoming Prime Minister (

Walter Nash Sir Walter Nash (12 February 1882 – 4 June 1968) was a New Zealand politician who served as the 27th prime minister of New Zealand in the Second Labour Government from 1957 to 1960. He is noted for his long period of political service, havi ...

) agreed that the election for Clutha would be held on 18 January. In the intervening time between when the election was scheduled for and the reassigned date one candidate withdrew, Bill Caldwell, who had previously intended to stand as an independent National candidate. Labour selected Joseph Fahey, a farmer from Lawrence, as Waters' replacement to contest the seat on 20 December. When the election was finally held, National candidate James Roy won by a margin of 2,172 votes.

1931 election

1928 election

1925 election

1899 election

1893 election

Notes

References

* * * {{Historic electorates of New Zealand , state=collapsed Historical electorates of New Zealand Politics of Otago 1865 establishments in New Zealand 1996 disestablishments in New Zealand