Mount Albert by-election, 1947

24 September 1947 (1947-09-24)

The Mount Albert seat in the House of Representatives. Election by simple majority using first-past-the-post voting.

Turnout	87.1%

Candidate	Warren Freer	J. C. Garland
Party	Labour	National
Popular vote	7,235	5,682
Percentage	56%	44%

Member before election

Arthur Richards
Labour

Elected Member

Warren Freer
Labour

The 1947 Mount Albert by-election was a by-election held during the 28th New Zealand Parliament in the Auckland electorate of Mount Albert. The by-election occurred following the death of MP Arthur Richards and was won by Warren Freer.

Background

Arthur Richards, who was first elected to represent Roskill for the Labour Party in 1931, died on 5 August 1947. This triggered the Mount Albert by-election, which occurred on 24 September 1947. Warren Freer was the candidate for the Labour Party, and J. C. Garland was the candidate for the National Party.

Freer obtained 56% of the votes and was successful.^[1] Richards had urged Freer (who had stood for Eden in 1946 election), to stand for the safe Labour seat of Mt Albert when he died. Freer was only 26 and relatively unknown to executive members, but local supporter Dick Barter convinced Peter Fraser that his work in Eden was adequate apprenticeship. Freer recalled two inspiring byelection speeches by Martyn Finlay and Mabel Howard, and was staggered when his majority was close to that of Richards in 1946, rather than being well below (as for most byelections).^[2]

Previous election

1946 general election: Mount Albert^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Arthur Richards	7,681	56.88
	National	F. A. Hosking	5,824	43.12
Majority			1,857	13.75
Informal votes			74
Registered electors			14,374
Turnout			13,579	94.47

Results

The following table gives the election results:

Mount Albert by-election, 1947^[1]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Warren Freer	7,235	56.01
	National	J. C. Garland	5,682	43.99
Majority			1,553	12.02
Informal votes			26
Registered electors			14,861
Turnout			12,943	87.09
	Labour hold		Swing

Notes

1 2 3 Norton 1988, p. 280.
↑ Freer 2004, pp. 26, 27, 29.

References

Freer, Warren (2004). A Lifetime in Politics: the memoirs of Warren Freer. Wellington: Victoria University Press. ISBN 0-86473-478-6.
Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand parliamentary election results, 1946–1987. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington Department of Political Science. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.

« (1912–1938) « By-elections in New Zealand in the two-party era (1939–1995) » (1996–present) »

26th Parliament	Christchurch South, 1939 Auckland West, 1940 Waipawa, 1940 Waitemata, 1941 Bay of Plenty, 1941 Mid-Canterbury, 1942 Temuka, 1942 Hauraki, 1942 Christchurch East, 1943 Northern Maori, 1943

27th Parliament	Awarua, 1944 Western Maori, 1945 Hamilton, 1945 Dunedin North, 1945 Raglan, 1946

28th Parliament	Avon, 1947 Mount Albert, 1947 Westland, 1947

29th Parliament	Brooklyn, 1951

30th Parliament	Dunedin North, 1953 Onehunga, 1953 Onslow, 1954 Patea, 1954

31st Parliament	Riccarton, 1956 Bay of Plenty, 1957

32nd Parliament	Hamilton, 1959

33rd Parliament	Hurunui, 1961 Waitaki, 1962 Buller, 1962 Timaru, 1962 Otahuhu, 1963 Northern Maori, 1963 Grey Lynn, 1963

34th Parliament	There were no by-elections during the term of the 34th Parliament.

35th Parliament	Southern Maori, 1967 Fendalton, 1967 Petone, 1967 Palmerston North, 1967 Eastern Maori, 1967 Hutt, 1968

36th Parliament	Marlborough, 1970

37th Parliament	Sydenham, 1974

38th Parliament	Nelson, 1976 Mangere, 1977 Pahiatua, 1977 Rangitikei, 1978

39th Parliament	Christchurch Central, 1979 Northern Maori, 1980 Onehunga, 1980 East Coast Bays, 1980

40th Parliament	There were no by-elections during the term of the 40th Parliament.

41st Parliament	Timaru, 1985

42nd Parliament	There were no by-elections during the term of the 42nd Parliament.

43rd Parliament	Tamaki, 1992 Wellington Central, 1992 Tauranga, 1993

44th Parliament	Selwyn, 1994

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 8/28/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.