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Manawatu was a parliamentary electorate in the Manawatū-Whanganui region of New Zealand that existed during three periods between 1871 and 1996.

Population centres

The 1870 electoral redistribution was undertaken by a parliamentary select committee based on population data from the 1867 New Zealand census. Eight sub-committees were formed, with two members each making decisions for their own province; thus members set their own electorate boundaries. The number of electorates was increased from 61 to 72, and Manawatu was one of the new electorates.^[1]

History

The electorate existed during three periods: from 1871 to 1890, 1896 to 1911, and 1919 to 1996.^[2]

The first representative was Walter Woods Johnston, who was elected at the 1871 general election. He won the three subsequent general elections, and retired at the end of the parliamentary term in 1884.^[3] In the 1876 election, Johnston was challenged by the lawyer, naturalist and ornithologist Walter Buller. The contest was close and Buller had a small majority in the district of two votes, but the voters from Wellington who were eligible to vote in the Manawatu and who made the arduous journey (the route was affected by recent flooding) to the nearest polling booth in Paikakariki gave Johnston the advantage.^[4]^[5] Johnston was succeeded by Douglas Hastings Macarthur in the 1884 general election. Macarthur held the electorate for two terms until 1890, when it was abolished. He successfully contested Rangitikei in the 1890 general election.^[6]

The electorate was recreated for the 1896 general election, when John Stevens got elected for the Liberal Party. He represented it until the 1902 general election,^[7] when he was defeated by Job Vile.^[8] Vile lost the electorate again at the 1905 general election to Stevens, who held it until 1908.^[7] In the 1908 general election, Stevens was defeated by the conservative politician Edward Newman in a second ballot.^[9] The electorate was abolished in 1911.^[2]

The electorate was recreated in for the 1919 general election, when John Stevens was once again successful. He held the electorate for one term.^[7] He was succeeded by Joseph Linklater in the 1922 general election. Linklater held the electorate for four parliamentary terms until 1935.^[10] In the 1935 general election, he was defeated by Labour's Lorrie Hunter, who held the electorate for one term.^[11]

Hunter lost the electorate in the 1938 general election to National's John Cobbe, who retired in 1943.^[12] He was succeeded by Matthew Oram until 1957.

Members of Parliament

Manawatu was represented by 16 Members of Parliament.^[2]

Key

Independent	Conservative	Liberal	Reform
Labour	National	Alliance	Liberal

Election	Winner
1871 election		Walter Johnston
1876 election
1879 election
1881 election
1884 election		Douglas Macarthur
1887 election		Douglas Macarthur
(Electorate abolished 1890–1896)
1896 election		John Stevens
1899 election		John Stevens
1902 election		Job Vile
1905 election		John Stevens
1908 election		Edward Newman
1908 election		Edward Newman
(Electorate abolished 1911–1919)
1919 election		Edward Newman
1922 election		Joseph Linklater
1925 election
1928 election
1931 election
1935 election		Lorrie Hunter
1938 election		John Cobbe
1943 election		Matthew Oram
1946 election
1949 election
1951 election
1954 election
1957 election		Blair Tennent
1960 election
1963 election
1966 election		Les Gandar
1969 election		Les Gandar
1972 election		Allan McCready
1975 election		Allan McCready
1978 election		Michael Cox
1981 election
1984 election
1987 election		David Robinson
1990 election		Hamish MacIntyre


1993 election		Jill White
(Electorate abolished in 1996; see Rangitīkei)

Election results

1943 election

1943 general election: Manawatu^[13]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	Matthew Oram	6,304	56.85
	Labour	William Henry Oliver	3,999	36.06
	Independent	Septimus James Edgar Closey	675	6.08
Informal votes			110	0.99	+0.35
Majority			2,305	20.78
Turnout			11,088	90.42	−1.95
Registered electors			12,262

1938 election

1938 general election: Manawatu^[14]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	National	John Cobbe	6,245	57.20
	Labour	Lorrie Hunter	4,601	42.14	+10.43
Informal votes			70	0.64	−0.08
Majority			1,644	15.06
Turnout			10,916	92.37	+1.76
Registered electors			11,817

1935 election

1935 general election: Manawatu^[15]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Lorrie Hunter	2,958	31.71	−2.44
	Reform	Joseph Linklater	2,929	31.40	−34.45
	Independent	Septimus James Edgar Closey	1,271	13.62
	Democrat	Matthew Oram	673	7.21
	Independent	John Knowles Hornblow	618	6.62
Informal votes			68	0.72	+0.13
Majority			30	0.32
Turnout			8,452	90.61	−9.18
Registered electors			9,327

1931 election

1931 general election: Manawatu^[16]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Reform	Joseph Linklater	4,666	65.85
	Labour	Lorrie Hunter	2,420	34.15
Informal votes			42	0.59
Majority			2,246	31.70
Turnout			7,128	81.43
Registered electors			8,753

1928 election

1928 general election: Manawatu^[17]^[18]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Reform	Joseph Linklater	3,401	44.01
	United	Patrick James Small	1,935	25.04
	Labour	John Henry Taylor	1,634	21.15
	Independent	Henry Joseph Dalton McManaway	757	9.80
Majority			1,466	18.97
Informal votes			70	0.90
Turnout			7,797	89.06
Registered electors			8,755

1899 election

1899 general election: Manawatu^[19]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Liberal	John Stevens	1,732	52.23
	Conservative	Robert Bruce	1,584	47.77
Majority			148	4.46
Turnout			3,316	73.66
Registered electors			4,502

Notes

^ McRobie 1989, p. 39.
^ ^a ^b ^c Wilson 1985.
^ Scholefield 1950, p. 117.
^ "Wellington". Wanganui Chronicle. Vol. XIX, no. 2954. 13 January 1876. p. 2. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
^ "The Manawatu Election". The Evening Post. Vol. XIII, no. 8. 11 January 1876. p. 2. Retrieved 30 January 2013.
^ Scholefield 1950, p. 121.
^ ^a ^b ^c Scholefield 1950, p. 140.
^ Scholefield 1950, p. 145.
^ Scholefield 1950, p. 129.
^ Scholefield 1950, p. 120.
^ Scholefield 1950, p. 115.
^ Scholefield 1950, p. 101.
^ "The General Election, 1943". National Library. 1944. p. 11. Retrieved 28 March 2014.
^ "The General Election, 1938". National Library. 1939. pp. 1–6. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
^ The General Election, 1935. Government Printer. 1936. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
^ The General Election, 1931. Government Printer. 1932. p. 3. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
^ Skinner, W. A. G. (1929). The General Election, 1928. Government Printer. p. 3. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
^ "General notices". Manawatu Times. Vol. LIII, no. 6748. 30 October 1928. p. 16. Retrieved 18 February 2020.
^ "The General Election, 1899". Wellington: Appendix to the Journals of the House of Representatives. 19 June 1900. p. 2. Retrieved 12 February 2014.

References

McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN 0-477-01384-8.
Scholefield, Guy (1950) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 (3rd ed.). Wellington: Govt. Printer.
Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.