Gold Fields (New Zealand electorate)
The Gold Fields District electorate was a 19th-century parliamentary electorate in the Otago region, New Zealand.
Contents
History
The electorate was created in 1862 because of the large influx of people to Otago during the Otago Gold Rush, and because the franchise had been extended to males aged 21 years and over who had held a miner’s right continuously for at least three (or six) months. No electoral rolls were established for these districts, and to vote a miner just presented his miner’s licence to the election official. Outside Otago where no special Gold Fields electorate existed, miners could register as electors in the ordinary electoral district where they lived.
William Baldwin's resignation was received on 27 April 1865.[1][2] Charles Edward Haughton won the resulting 1865 by-election held on 29 May contested by three candidates.[3]
Members
Gold Fields was a two-member electorate, and was represented by five MPs from 1863 to 1870:[4]
| Election | Winners | |||
| 1863 supplementary election | William Baldwin (Independent) | George Brodie (Independent) | ||
| 1865 by-election | Charles Edward Haughton (Independent) | |||
| 1866 | Julius Vogel (Independent) | Charles Gordon O'Neill (Independent) | ||
See also
References
- Electoral Atlas of New Zealand by Alan McRobie pp 33, 36 (1989, GP Books Wellington) ISBN 0-477-01384-8
