Dunedin Central

Dunedin Central was a parliamentary electorate in the city of Dunedin in Otago, New Zealand from 1881 to 1890 and 1905 to 1984.

Population centres

The previous electoral redistribution was undertaken in 1875 for the 1875–76 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 Dunedin Central, and two electorates that had previously been abolished to be recreated. This necessitated a major disruption to existing boundaries.

History

Thomas Bracken, who at the 1879 election had unsuccessfully contested the City of Dunedin electorate, was the first representative. At the 1884 election, Bracken was defeated by James Benn Bradshaw, but Bradshaw died during the term (on 1 September 1886) and Bracken won the resulting by-election. He served for the rest of the term and then retired.

The 1887 election was contested by Edward Cargill and Frederick Fitchett, and won by Fitchett. Fitchett served one term and then retired. The electorate was abolished at the end of the term in 1890.

When the electorate was recreated for the 1905 election, the election was won by John A. Millar of the Liberal Party, who had represented various Dunedin electorates since 1893. At the next election in 1908, Millar successfully stood in the Dunedin West electorate.

The Dunedin Central electorate was won by James Frederick Arnold in that year, who was also of the Liberal Party. At the 1911 election, Arnold was beaten by Charles Statham. Statham was a representative of the Reform Party, but became an Independent in 1919. Statham resigned after the 1914 election, after irregularities in the counting of the vote turned a 12-vote lead for his competitor James Munro into a 12-vote loss. Munro, who represented the United Labour Party, and Statham contested the resulting 1915 by-election, which was narrowly won by Statham. He continued to represent the electorate until his retirement in 1935.

Peter Neilson of the Labour Party won the 1935 election. He served for three terms before he retired in 1946. He was succeeded by Labour's Philip Connolly in the 1946 election, who served six terms before he retired. Brian MacDonell of the Labour Party won the 1963 election and served seven terms until 1984, when the electorate was abolished. MacDonell then failed to get selected by Labour for the Dunedin West electorate and then stood as an Independent, but he was unsuccessful.

Members of Parliament

The electorate was represented by nine Members of Parliament:

Key

  Independent     Liberal     Reform     Labour  

Election	Winner
1881 election		Thomas Bracken
1884 election		James Benn Bradshaw
1886 by-election		Thomas Bracken (2nd period)
1887 election		Frederick Fitchett
(Electorate abolished 1890–1905)
1905 election		John A. Millar
1908 election		James Frederick Arnold
1911 election		Charles Statham
1914 election
1915 by-election
1919 election
1922 election
1925 election
1928 election
1931 election
1935 election		Peter Neilson
1938 election
1943 election
1946 election		Philip Connolly
1949 election
1951 election
1954 election
1957 election
1960 election
1963 election		Brian MacDonell
1966 election
1969 election
1972 election
1975 election
1978 election
1981 election
(Electorate abolished 1984)

Election results

1931 election

General election, 1931: Dunedin Central

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent	Charles Statham	5,389	51.25
	Labour	Peter Neilson	5,127	48.75
Majority			262	2.49
Informal votes			21	0.20
Turnout			10,537	85.79
Registered electors			12,283

1915 by-election

Dunedin Central by-election, 1915

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Reform	Charles Statham	4,033	50.67
	United Labour	James Wright Munro	3,926	49.33
Majority			107	1.34
Turnout			7,959