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Christchurch North is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate. The electorate comprised the northern half of what is now considered the Christchurch Central City.

Population centres

The previous electoral redistribution was undertaken in 1875 for the 1875–1876 election. In the six years since, New Zealand's European population had increased by 65%. In the 1881 electoral redistribution, the House of Representatives increased the number of European representatives to 91 (up from 84 since the 1875–76 election). The number of Māori electorates was held at four. The House further decided that electorates should not have more than one representative, which led to 35 new electorates being formed, including Christchurch North, and two electorates that had previously been abolished to be recreated. This necessitated a major disruption to existing boundaries.

The boundaries of the Christchurch North electorate were Bealey Avenue in the north (then called North Town Belt), Fitzgerald Avenue in the east (then called East Town Belt), Worcester Street in the south (through Latimer and Cathedral Squares), and Park Terrace in the west (then called Antigua Street). The electorate thus comprised the northern half of what is now considered the central city. The civic offices in Worcester Street were used as the polling station for the 1881 election, and Leslie Lee acted as the returning officer.

The 1981 census had shown that the North Island had experienced further population growth, and three additional general seats were created through the 1983 electoral redistribution, bringing the total number of electorates to 95. The South Island had, for the first time, experienced a population loss, but its number of general electorates was fixed at 25 since the 1967 electoral redistribution. More of the South Island population was moving to Christchurch, and two electorates were abolished, while two electorates were recreated (including Christchurch North). In the North Island, six electorates were newly created, three electorates were recreated, and six electorates were abolished.

History

The electorate existed three times:

• 1881 to 1890;
• 1905 to 1946;
• 1984 to 1996, replacing the Papanui electorate, and then replaced by the Waimakiriri electorate for MMP.

It was held by three Premiers or Prime Ministers, Julius Vogel (1884 to 1889), Sidney Holland and Mike Moore.

Henry Thomson, a former Mayor of Christchurch, was the electorate's first representative in 1881. Thomson retired at the 1884 election and was succeeded by Julius Vogel, who beat John Crewes. Vogel returned to England in 1888, never to return to New Zealand, and his resignation became effective in early 1889. Edward Wingfield Humphreys won the resulting 1889 by-election and served until the end of the parliamentary term in the following year.

For the 1890 election election, a number of Christchurch electorates were amalgamated to form the three-member Christchurch electorate. Humphreys came fifth in that election and was thus unsuccessful.

Members of Parliament

The electorate was represented by nine members of parliament.

Key

  Independent   Liberal–Labour   Independent Liberal

  Liberal   Reform   National   Labour

Election results

1993 election

1990 election

1987 election

1984 election

1943 election

Table footnotes:

1. Registered electors refers to civilian voters only; nationwide, 93,295 servicemen also cast valid votes although their names did not appear on electoral rolls.

1931 election

1928 election

1914 election

1911 by-election

1889 by-election

1884 election

Notes

1. McRobie 1989, pp. 43–48.
2. "Canterbury Electorates". The Star. No. 4158. 18 August 1881. p. 3. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
3. "Christchurch North Election". The Press. Vol. XXXVI, no. 5061. 26 November 1881. p. 1. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
4. McRobie 1989, pp. 123f.
5. McRobie 1989, pp. 111, 123.
6. McRobie 1989, pp. 119–124.
7. Scholefield 1950, p. 156.
8. Scholefield 1950, p. 145.
9. Wilson 1985, p. 240.
10. Wilson 1985, pp. 240, 242.
11. Chalklen, Mollie. "John Crewes". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
12. Sinclair, Keith; Dalziel, Raewyn. "Vogel, Julius". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 27 April 2020.
13. Wilson 1985, p. 206.
14. McRobie 1989, pp. 53–57.
15. "General Elections". The Star. No. 7029. 6 December 1890. p. 4. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
16. "Christchurch North Election". The Star. No. 6577. 20 June 1889. p. 3. Retrieved 16 March 2010.
17. Part 1: Votes recorded at each polling place (Technical report). New Zealand Chief Electoral Office. 1993.
18. Part 1: Votes recorded at each polling place (Technical report). New Zealand Chief Electoral Office. 1990.
19. ^ Norton 1988, pp. 207.
20. The General Election, 1943. National Library. 1944. p. 3. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
21. McRobie 1989, p. 92.
22. The General Election, 1931. Government Printer. 1932. p. 2. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
23. "Notice of Nominations Received and Polling Places Appointed". The Press. Vol. LXVII, no. 20400. 21 November 1931. p. 23. Retrieved 20 May 2016.
24. Skinner, W. A. G. (1929). The General Election, 1928. Government Printer. p. 2. Retrieved 17 February 2020.
25. Hislop, J. (1915). The General Election, 1914. National Library. p. 20. Retrieved 2 November 2019.
26. "Henry Featherston Toogood (1879–1962)". Engineering New Zealand. Archived from the original on 1 November 2019. Retrieved 1 November 2019.
27. "The by-election". The Timaru Herald. Vol. XCIV, no. 14522. 18 August 1911. p. 4. Retrieved 23 December 2015 – via Papers Past.
28. "Christchurch North Election". The Star. No. 6577. 20 June 1889. p. 3. Retrieved 27 March 2010.
29. Cooper, G. S. (1884). The General Election, 1884. National Library. p. 2. Retrieved 9 February 2021.

References

• McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN 0-477-01384-8.
• Scholefield, Guy (1950) . New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 (3rd ed.). Wellington: Govt. Printer.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) . New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
• Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.

• 1881 establishments in New Zealand
• 1996 disestablishments in New Zealand
• Historical electorates of New Zealand
• Politics of Christchurch
• History of Christchurch
• 1905 establishments in New Zealand
• 1984 establishments in New Zealand
• 1890 disestablishments in New Zealand
• 1946 disestablishments in New Zealand