The by-election resulted from the death of Tom Shand on 11 December 1969, only 12 days after he (and the government) had been re-elected on 29 November; and the new National candidate was defeated by the greatest swing against a government since the 1935 general election, in what was a largely rural electorate generally regarded a safe National seat. Tom Shand had held the seat from 1946, when he defeated Labour’s Ted Meachen.
Candidates
Labour
The Labour Party selected Ian Brooks as their candidate. In 1969 he had stood in the electorate.[3]
National
There were five nominees who came forward for the National Party candidacy:[4][5]
Jeremy Woodhall, a registered surveyor from Blenheim
Kerr was selected. It was the seventh consecutive time he had contested the seat, having done so at every previous election since 1954.[8]
Campaign
The vote for Tom Shand had been close in 1966. Labour only decided that the seat was winnable in January, and sent in two MPs Arthur Faulkner and Colin Moyle to organise the campaign. Labour's candidate, Brooks, was local; he was a senior clerk in the Picton manual telephone exchange and also had a small farm. The seat was largely rural, but Brooks polled particularly well in Picton, and well in the other two population centres, Blenheim and Kaikōura. At the end of the campaign there was some criticism of Andy Shand for frequent "butting-in" during a combined television broadcast appearance for all the candidates on Wednesday 17 February.[9]
The election-night margin to Labour of 1131 was so great that the final result was not expected to change when special votes, which generally tended to go to National, were counted.[11] There were 32 informal votes.[12]
George Chapman was the Wellington National Party chairman. He heard reports that all was not well in the campaign, the party was in deep trouble, and that Labour was making an all-out effort. But he found that party president Ned Holt was complacent about the by-election; saying that everything was in order, and that in any case National's majority in Marlborough was big enough to absorb any setback. But on by-election night Labour inflicted a stunning defeat on National, reducing the Government majority from six to four, and shaking party confidence. Chapman became the leader for change in the organisation, resulting in his nomination for party president in 1971, although he did not become president until 1973.[13]
Despite winning a surprise victory in 1969, National was so embarrassed from the by-election defeat it triggered the media to seriously speculate about Prime Minister Keith Holyoake's retirement.[14]
^Wood, G. A. (1996) [1987]. Ministers and Members in the New Zealand Parliament (2 ed.). Dunedin: University of Otago Press. p. 113. ISBN1 877133 00 0.
Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN0-475-11200-8.
