Thames by-election, 1909

Thames by-election, 1909

4 February 1909

Candidate Edmund Taylor William Henry Lucas Party Liberal Liberal

Member before election James McGowan Liberal Elected Member Edmund Taylor Liberal

The Thames by-election of 1909 was a by-election held during the 17th New Zealand Parliament.

Background

The by-election was caused after the resignation of Liberal Party MP James McGowan, who had been appointed to the Legislative Council. McGowan announced his resignation by advertisement in the Thames Star on 7 January 1909, and in the same edition, the Mayor of Thames, Archibald Burns, announced his candidacy.^[1]

In the end, five candidates contested the election, but Burns was not among them. William Henry Lucas, a unionist, was the official representative of the liberal government.^[2][3] Edmund Taylor and Thomas William Rhodes were also Liberal Party member.^[2] Frederick Henry Haselden was the official candidate of the conservative opposition, but Ernest Deeble also stood for opposition interests.^[2][4][5]

Results

The following table gives the election results:

Thames by-election, 1909: First ballot^[2]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Edmund Taylor	1,305	34.44
	Liberal	William Henry Lucas	853	22.51
	Conservative	Ernest Deeble	573	15.12
	Liberal	Thomas William Rhodes	565	14.91
	Conservative	Frederick Henry Haselden	493	13.01
Turnout			3,789

The Second Ballot Act 1908 was in force and had previously been used for the 1908 election. This was the first by-election where it applied, and the act stipulated that the leading candidate had to obtain an absolute majority of the votes, or else the two highest polling candidates would face each other in a second election. At the 28 January election, Taylor was the highest-polling candidate, but received only 34% of the vote, hence a second election between him and Lucas was required.^[2] That election was held on 4 February 1909, and was won by Taylor.^[6]

Thames by-election, 1909: Second ballot^[6][7]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±
	Liberal	Edmund Taylor	2,241	55.79
	Liberal	William Henry Lucas	1,776	44.21
Turnout			4,017

A week after the election, William Massey announced that the opposition will from now on be known as the Reform Party.^[8] Taylor served until the end of the parliamentary term and was narrowly beaten by Rhodes at the next general election in 1911.^[9] Taylor contested the electorate again in 1914 but Rhodes remained successful.^[10]

References

1. "Page 3 Advertisements Column 2". Thames Star. XLV (10608). 7 January 1909. p. 3. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
2. "Success of Government Candidate". Thames Star. XLV (10627). 29 January 1909. p. 2. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
3. Cyclopedia Company Limited (1902). "Thames". The Cyclopedia of New Zealand : Auckland Provincial District. Christchurch: The Cyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
4. "Thames Electoral District". Thames Star. XLV (10621). 22 January 1909. p. 3. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
5. "The Other Candidates". Thames Star. XLV (10618). 19 January 1909. p. 2. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
6. "The Thames Election". Thames Star. XLV (10633). 5 February 1909. p. 2. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
7. "Thames By-Election". The Press. LXV (13342). 6 February 1909. p. 9. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
8. "The Reform Party". The Evening Post. LXVVII (36). 12 February 1909. p. 8. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
9. Mansfield, F. W. (1912). The General Election, 1911. National Library. p. 2. Retrieved 25 April 2015.
10. "The General Election, 1914". National Library. 1915. p. 6. Retrieved 1 August 2013.