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April 1865 Bruce by-election

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Turnout	180 (36.0%)
Candidate Arthur John Burns William John Dyer Party Independent Independent Popular vote 102 78 Percentage 56.67 43.33
MP before election Thomas Gillies Independent Elected MP Arthur John Burns Independent

The April 1865 Bruce by-election was a New Zealand by-election held in the multi-member electorate of Bruce during the 3rd New Zealand Parliament on 8 April 1865. It was triggered on 9 January that year by the resignation of separationist Thomas Gillies and won by prominent settler Arthur John Burns. The more liberal businessman William John Dyer was the sole other contester of the by-election, finishing with 43.33% of the vote.

Five candidates were nominated but two of them had their nominations rejected by the Returning Officer. Both rejected nominees had nominated other electors earlier in the meeting; the Returning Officer believed this behaviour was childish and contrary to the "serious duty" of candidacy. A third nominee—Henry Clapcott—was proposed but withdrew prior to the election. The by-election was one of three by-elections in the electorate that were also in the 3rd Parliament, the others being the July 1865 by-election and the 1862 by-election. 11 months after the by-election came the 1866 election.

Background

Thomas Gillies was a cabinet minister in the Domett Ministry (August 1862) and then the Whitaker–Fox Ministry (October 1863 – November 1864), and had served as a Member of Parliament for Bruce since 1861. He was a strong advocate of the separation of the North and South islands, but did not get majority support in the ministries or from parliament as a whole, and he resigned his parliamentary seat in early 1865 as he could not achieve his goal. The question of separation was also not universally supported by his electorate. The first mention of Gillies having resigned came on 9 January 1865 and the resignation eventually took effect on 3 March that year.

His resignation eventually triggered the by-election. Some of the electors near Lake Wakatip—the contemporary spelling of Lake Wakatipu—were sorry to see Gillies retire because of "some infatuated idea in regard to separation". The loss of a 'suitable representative' generally displeased the electorate, including those who were against his views.

Campaign

The Otago Daily Times's Tokomairiro correspondent reported on 23 March that a writ for the election of a replacement was issued, and that the dates for a nomination meeting and election were set for 31 March and 8 April, respectively. As of 23 March, no candidates had come forward and the newspaper stated that their reporters had not heard any rumours about potential candidates either. On the day prior to the nomination meeting, still no candidates had come forward, despite discussions of Frederick Moss as a suitable representative. Moss had declined becoming a candidate due to private engagements.

Nomination meeting

The meeting for nominations for the by-election was held in the Tokomairiro Court House in Milton—which in those days was called Tokomairiro or Tokomairaro—on 31 March 1865. Up until two years previously, the Court House in Dunedin hosted the nomination meeting, and this was the first Bruce election with the nominations held in Tokomairiro. The Returning Officer John Dewe—having read the election notice and the writ—called upon the various electors to declare their nominations of candidates. The number of electors present was approximately 30, yet for a considerable time no elector announced their nomination.

Finally, John Hardy gave a speech in which he expressed his astonishment that despite Bruce being one of the most developed parliamentary constituencies, no candidate had yet been nominated by the electors. He then announced his nomination of Henry Clapcott, the Treasurer of Otago Province at the time, as a person who he thought would be a suitable representative for the electorate. M. B. Power seconded that nomination. Some speakers opposed Clapcott's nomination, as the provincial superintendent (John Hyde Harris) and the provincial speaker (John L. C. Richardson) were already members of the House of Representatives, and Clapcott as the third-ranked provincial executive member would leave an ineffective executive behind to run Otago.

E. Marryatt proposed William John Dyer, seconded pro forma by H. Clark. Before he announced his nomination, John Lillie Gillies signalled that he was about to propose someone who was well known among those who lived in the electorate. After a speech, Gillies announced his nomination and stated that he was sure that the electors could not find a more honest candidate than Arthur John Burns, who he then announced as the candidate he would like to propose. James Smith seconded that nomination.

No other candidates were proposed and the Returning Officer called for Dyer to give a speech to the electors regarding what he would advocate for and his goals if he became the Member of Parliament for Bruce. However, before Dyer made his speech John Hardy stepped in and asked if he could say some words as Henry Clapcott's representative, an action opposed by other electors. Hardy said that in reply to some observations by J. L. Gillies regarding the state of the province of Otago without a treasurer— he would then also like to nominate Marryatt—who himself had nominated someone. The observations were concerning the fact that Clapcott would be forced to resign as Treasurer to take up his role as MP for Bruce. Marryatt had opposed the stepping in of Hardy, without a clue that he would be nominated for the role. Laughingly, J. L. Gillies seconded that nomination. However, Gillies said that an elector may only nominate one person for a role at an election. The Returning Officer then justified that an elector may nominate as many people as they like. Returning the compliment, Marryatt nominated Hardy for the role, seconded by George E. Brown. However, the Returning Officer took no notice of the nominations, stating that it was immature of the electors to make a joke on such a serious duty. Multiple electors then said that some fun at an election was expected, a stance which the Returning Officer disagreed with.

After the interruption, Dyer came forward and delivered his speech. During his speech, Dyer explained that he was a separationist, though not to the extremes as some of the Separation League, a supporter of the elimination of the House of Representatives, and could see no reason why the Chinese could not come to New Zealand like any other people.

Burns said in his speech that he had no idea that he would be a candidate for the electorate, and therefore did not have enough time to prepare a speech, so he made it up along the way. He stated that if he became a Member of Parliament for Bruce, he would endeavour to act in a straightforward manner. In response to questions, Burns stated that he was an advocate for free trade. He also stated that he was against separationism, the act of dividing the North and South Islands, and that although he supported the use of income tax, he was against a stamp act or newspaper postage.

Henry Clapcott was not present at the nomination meeting.

After the speeches the Returning Officer called for a show of hands. The results were as follows:

The Returning Officer then declared the results to be in favour of Burns. Supporters of Clapcott demanded an election on his behalf, which was held on 8 April 1865. According to reports, Burns was deemed the most likely candidate to win the by-election, an interpretation which turned out to be correct.

Candidates

Election and results

The election was held on 8 April 1865. Clapcott placed an advertisement on 5 April in the Otago Daily Times stating that he had withdrawn from the contest for the seat.

It was not possible to announce the results before the afternoon of 11 April 1865, and they were announced on 12 April. Burns won the election, as expected, although with just 24 votes (13.34%) over his sole opponent, Dyer. As the candidate who got a plurality of the votes, Burns was officially declared by the Returning Officer John Dewe as the new Member of Parliament for the electorate on 12 April 1865.

Results by polling booth

There were eight polling booths, and this was an increase by five since the last election held. The new booths were located at three school houses, in Waihola, Lawrence, and Inch Clutha, at the station of Captain Francis Wallace Mackenzie in Pomahaka, and at the courthouse in Dunedin. The latter booth was located outside of the electorate, but many of the electors resided in Dunedin. The polling booths that remained the same as at the 1862 by-election were the Court House at Tokomairiro (the place where the nomination meeting was held), and at the schoolhouses in Warepa and East Taieri. At the polling booth of East Taieri, four people voted whose names were not included on the electoral roll. Those votes were not included in the official count. Despite there being 280 electors enrolled in Tokomairiro, only 65 (23.2%) of them cast a vote in the by-election, a statistic that could have changed the election. The following table shows detailed results.

Aftermath

On 11 January 1865 there was a meeting of the Separation League, in which J. H. Harris was elected president and T. B. Gillies, whose resignation of the seat caused the by-election, deputy president. Burns lasted as a representative for Bruce until the 7 March 1866 election when it was transformed into a single-member electorate. That election was won by John Cargill—who had contested the previous election—unopposed.

Footnotes

1. The New Zealand term of multi-member electorates is that they are electorates that have multiple representatives elected at the same time (except in the case of by-elections). Multi-member electorates in New Zealand had two or three members. At this time the Bruce electorate had two.
2. At the time, suffrage was linked to property ownership.

References

1. Nigel S. Roberts (20 June 2012). "Page 1. Turning votes into seats". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. p. 1. Retrieved 11 March 2017.
2. (McRobie 1989, pp. 31–35)
3. Wilson 1985, p. 188.
4. Wilson 1985, pp. 61f.
5. "Separation". Otago Witness. No. 685. 14 January 1865. p. 5. Retrieved 18 January 2017 – via Papers Past.
6. Wilson 1985, p. 199.
7. ^ "Tokomairiro". Otago Daily Times. No. 1017. 23 March 1865. p. 5. Retrieved 30 January 2017 – via Papers Past.
8. "The Otago Daily Times". No. 951. 9 January 1865. p. 4. Retrieved 18 March 2017 – via Papers Past.
9. ^ "The Nomination". Bruce Herald. Vol. II, no. 52. 6 April 1865. p. 5. Retrieved 16 January 2017 – via Papers Past.
10. "The Bruce Herald". Vol. II, no. 50. 23 March 1865. Retrieved 2 February 2017 – via Papers Past.
11. ^ "Original Correspondence". Lake Wakatip Mail. No. 200. 29 March 1865. Retrieved 31 January 2017 – via Papers Past.
12. ^ "Tokomairiro". Otago Daily Times. Otago Witness. 24 March 1865. p. 14. Retrieved 3 February 2017 – via Papers Past.
13. "The Bruce Herald". Vol. II, no. 51. 30 March 1865. p. 3. Retrieved 5 February 2017 – via Papers Past.
14. "The Otago Daily Times". No. 1035. 3 April 1865. Retrieved 7 February 2017 – via Papers Past.
15. ^ "OTAGO". The Press. 7 April 1865. Retrieved 28 January 2017 – via Papers Past.
16. "The Otago Witness". No. 695. 24 March 1865. Retrieved 31 January 2017 – via Papers Past.
17. ^ "Bruce Election". Bruce Herald. Vol. III, no. 53. 13 April 1865. Retrieved 17 January 2017 – via Papers Past.
18. ^ "Bruce Election". Otago Witness. No. 698. 15 April 1865. p. 11. Retrieved 3 February 2017 – via Papers Past.
19. "Town Board". Otago Daily Times. No. 1027. 5 April 1865. Retrieved 1 February 2017 – via Papers Past.
20. ^ "Bruce Election". Otago Daily Times. No. 1035. 14 April 1865. p. 6. Retrieved 3 February 2017 – via Papers Past.
21. "Page 2 Advertisements Column 5". Otago Daily Times. 5 January 1865. p. 2. Retrieved 3 February 2017 – via Papers Past.
22. Scholefield 1940, p. 157.
23. ^ "The Otago Daily Times". No. 1027. 5 April 1865. p. 4. Retrieved 18 January 2017 – via Papers Past.
24. ^ "The Otago Daily Times". No. 1040. 8 April 1865. p. 4. Retrieved 3 February 2017 – via Papers Past.
25. "The Southern Provinces". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. II, no. 444. 15 April 1865. p. 4. Retrieved 3 February 2017 – via Papers Past.
26. Wilson 1985, p. 189.
27. "Page 3 Advertisements Column 1". Bruce Herald. Vol. III, no. 55. 27 April 1865. p. 3 (Supplement). Retrieved 22 January 2017 – via Papers Past.
28. "Electoral Timeline". Electoral Commission (New Zealand). 28 May 2013. Archived from the original on 14 September 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2017.
29. ^ "Tokomairiro". Otago Witness. No. 698. 15 April 1865. p. 4. Retrieved 22 January 2017 – via Papers Past.
30. Cyclopedia, "Warepa" 1905, p. 749.
31. Cyclopedia, "Pomahaka" 1905, p. 756.
32. "Otago". The Press. 19 January 1865. Retrieved 2 February 2017 – via Papers Past.
33. "The Elections". Otago Daily Times. No. 1308. 8 March 1866. Retrieved 1 February 2017 – via Papers Past.

Citations

• Cyclopedia Company (1905). "Pomahaka". The Cyclopedia of New Zealand : Otago & Southland Provincial Districts. Christchurch: Cyclopedia Company, Limited. Retrieved 7 February 2017 – via The New Zealand Electronic Text Collection.
• Cyclopedia Company (1905). "Warepa". The Cyclopedia of New Zealand : Otago & Southland Provincial Districts. Christchurch: Cyclopedia Company, Limited. Retrieved 15 January 2017 – via The New Zealand Electronic Text Collection.
• McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN 0-477-01384-8.
• Scholefield, Guy (1940). Dictionary of New Zealand Biography A–L (PDF). Wellington: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Retrieved 7 February 2017.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) . New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.

v t e By-elections in New Zealand in the pre-party era (1853–1890)   » (1891–1911) »
1st Parliament	Nelson, 1854 Waimea, 1854 City of Auckland, 1854
2nd Parliament	Motueka and Massacre Bay, 1856 Christchurch Country, 1856 Grey and Bell, 1856 Christchurch, 1856 Hutt, 1856 Auckland, 1858 Pensioner Settlements, 1858 Southern Division, 1858 Grey and Bell, 1858 Waimea, 1858 Wairau, 1858 Town of Lyttelton, 1858 Akaroa, 1858 Dunedin Country, 1858 Wairarapa and Hawkes Bay, 1858 Wellington, 1858 Wellington Country, 1858 Hutt, 1858 Dunedin, 1859
Supplementary elections, 1859	Cheviot Marsden Wairarapa Wallace
2nd Parliament (continued)	Waimea, 1859 Christchurch, 1860 Suburbs of Auckland, Jan 1860 Suburbs of Auckland, Apr 1860 Suburbs of Auckland, Aug 1860 Dunedin Country, 1860 Christchurch Country, 1860 Auckland, 1860 Omata, 1860 County of Hawke, 1860 Northern Division, 1860 Grey and Bell, 1860
3rd Parliament	Grey and Bell, 1861 Suburbs of Nelson, 1861 Napier, 1861 Wanganui, 1861 Dunedin, 1862 New Plymouth, 1862 Ellesmere, 1862 Avon, 1862 Heathcote, 1862 Auckland West, 1862 Bruce, 1862 Hampden, 1862
Supplementary elections, 1863	Dunedin and Suburbs North Gold Fields
3rd Parliament (continued)	Dunedin and Suburbs South, 1863 Hampden, 1863 Kaiapoi, 1863 Dunedin and Suburbs North, 1863 New Plymouth, 1863 Heathcote, 1863 Akaroa, 1863 Franklin, 1864 New Plymouth, 1864 Waimea, 1864 Bruce, Apr 1865 Raglan, 1865 Parnell, 1865 New Plymouth, 1865 Bruce, Jul 1865 Gold Fields, 1865 Rangitikei, 1865 Omata, 1865 Wairarapa, 1865
4th Parliament	Mount Herbert, 1866 Port Chalmers, 1866 Dunedin, 1867 City of Christchurch, 1867 Avon, 1867 Manuherikia, 1867 Wanganui, 1867 New Plymouth, 1867 Auckland West, 1867 Raglan, 1867 Parnell, 1867 Port Chalmers, 1867 Waimea, 1867 Lyttelton, 1867 Kaiapoi, 1867 Picton, 1867 Pensioner Settlements, 1867 Ashley, 1867 Omata, 1868 Collingwood, 1868 Westland Boroughs, 1868
Supplementary elections, 1868	Westland North Westland South
First Māori elections	Eastern Maori Northern Maori Southern Maori Western Maori
4th Parliament (continued)	Avon, 1868 Picton, 1868 Rangitikei, 1868 Franklin, 1868 Waikouaiti, 1868 Lyttelton, 1868 Timaru, 1868 Nelson, 1868 Marsden, 1869 Roslyn, 1869 Dunedin, 1869 Newton, 1869 Waikouaiti, 1869 New Plymouth, 1869 Wallace, 1869 Oamaru, 1869 Taieri, 1869 Bruce, 1870 Mongonui, 1870 Caversham, 1870 Omata, 1870 Parnell, 1870 Riverton, 1870 Westland North, 1870 City of Christchurch, 1870
5th Parliament	Auckland West, 1871 Roslyn, 1871 Wairau, 1872 Waikato, 1872 Wakatipu, 1872 Rodney, 1872 Nelson, 1872 Waikouaiti, 1872 Coleridge, 1872 Heathcote, 1872 Caversham, 1872 Egmont 1872 Suburbs of Nelson, 1873 Lyttelton, 1873 Invercargill, 1873 Waikouaiti, 1873 Mongonui and Bay of Islands, 1873 Wakatipu, 1873 Collingwood, 1873 Franklin, 1874 Akaroa, 1874 Dunedin, 1874 Waitemata,1874 Kaiapoi, 1875 Auckland West, 1875 Rangitikei, 1875 Waikouaiti, 1875 Wairau, 1875 Wallace, 1875 Caversham, 1875
6th Parliament	Auckland West, 1876 Wanganui, 1876 Napier, 1877 Wellington, 1877 Totara, 1877 City of Auckland West, 1877 Wairarapa, 1877 Wellington, 1878 Parnell, 1878 Timaru, 1878 Port Chalmers, 1878 Franklin, 1878 Cheviot, 1878 Grey Valley, 1878 Hokitika, 1878 Dunedin, 1878 Taieri, 1878 Invercargill, 1878 Waipa, 1878 Roslyn, 1878 Gladstone, 1879 Mataura, 1879 Nelson, 1879 Auckland West, 1879 Coleridge, 1879 Hutt, 1879 Eastern Maori, 1879 Southern Maori, 1879 Dunedin, 1879
7th Parliament	Rangitikei, 1880 Waitaki, 1880 Waikaia, 1880 Suburbs of Nelson, 1881 Southern Maori, 1881 Nelson, 1881 Grey Valley, 1881
8th Parliament	Franklin North, 1882 Wakanui, 1882 Stanmore, 1882 Peninsula, 1883 Selwyn, 1883 Inangahua, 1883 Bruce, 1883 Selwyn, 1884 Thorndon, 1884 Kaiapoi, 1884 East Coast, 1884
9th Parliament	Oamaru, 1885 Tauranga, 1885 Waimea, 1885 Southern Maori, 1885 Wakanui, 1885 Bruce, 1885 Sydenham, 1886 Dunedin Central, 1886 Waitemata, 1886 Western Maori, 1886 Heathcote, 1887 Port Chalmers, 1887 Te Aro, 1887 Northern Maori, 1887 Avon, 1887
10th Parliament	Ashley, 1888 Lincoln, 1889 Nelson, 1889 Christchurch North, 1889 Oamaru, 1889 Waipa, 1889 East Coast, 1889 Timaru, 1890

• By-elections in New Zealand
• 1865 elections in New Zealand
• April 1865 events
• Politics of Otago