The 20th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the New Zealand Parliament. It was elected at the 1919 general election in December of that year.
20th Parliament of New Zealand | |||||
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Overview | |||||
Legislative body | New Zealand Parliament | ||||
Term | 14 June 1920 – 31 October 1922 | ||||
Election | 1919 New Zealand general election | ||||
Government | Reform Government | ||||
House of Representatives | |||||
Members | 80 | ||||
Speaker of the House | Frederic Lang | ||||
Prime Minister | William Massey | ||||
Leader of the Opposition | Thomas Wilford from 8 September 1920 — William MacDonald until 31 August 1920 † | ||||
Legislative Council | |||||
Members | 43 (at start) 38 (at end) | ||||
Speaker of the Council | Sir Walter Carncross | ||||
Leader of the Council | Sir Francis Bell | ||||
Sovereign | |||||
Monarch | HM George V | ||||
Governor-General | HE Rt. Hon. The Viscount Jellicoe from 27 September 1920 — HE Rt. Hon. The Earl of Liverpool until 8 July 1920 |
The 1919 general election was held on Tuesday, 16 December in the Māori electorates and on Wednesday, 17 December in the general electorates, respectively.[1] A total of 80 MPs were elected; 45 represented North Island electorates, 31 represented South Island electorates, and the remaining four represented Māori electorates.[2] 683,420 voters were enrolled and the official turnout at the election was 80.5%.[1]
The 20th Parliament sat for four sessions (there were two sessions in 1921), and was prorogued on 30 November 1922.[3]
Session | Opened | Adjourned |
---|---|---|
first | 24 June 1920 | 11 November 1920 |
second | 10 March 1921 | 22 March 1921 |
third | 22 September 1921 | 11 February 1922 |
fourth | 28 June 1922 | 31 October 1922 |
Party | Leader(s) | Seats at start | |
Reform Party | William Massey | 47 | |
Liberal Party | William MacDonald | 21 | |
Labour Party | Harry Holland | 8 | |
Independent | 4 |
Party | Leader(s) | Seats at end | |
Reform Party | William Massey | 44 | |
Liberal Party | Thomas Wilford | 18 | |
Labour Party | Harry Holland | 9 | |
Independents | 7 |
The wartime coalition between the Reform Party and the Liberal Party had come to an end by August 1919. William Massey of the Reform Party had been the leader of the coalition, with Joseph Ward of the Liberal Party as the deputy.[5] Ward left the coalition because it had become deeply unpopular with the population.[6] Massey then formed the second Massey Ministry on 25 August 1919 and remained in power during the term of the 20th Parliament and beyond until his death on 10 May 1925.[6][7]
The table below shows the results of the 1919 general election:
Key
Reform | Liberal | Labour | Liberal–Labour | |||||
Independent Liberal | Independent Labour | Independent |
There were a number of changes during the term of the 20th Parliament.
Electorate and by-election | Date | Incumbent | Cause | Winner | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Bruce | 1920 | 14 April | James Allen | Resignation | John Edie | ||
Stratford | 1920 | 6 May | Robert Masters | Election declared void | Robert Masters | ||
Bay of Plenty | 1920 | 30 September | William MacDonald | Death | Kenneth Williams | ||
Patea | 1921 | 13 April | Walter Powdrell | Death | Edwin Dixon | ||
Auckland East | 1921 | 2 November | Arthur Myers | Resignation | Clutha Mackenzie | ||
Southern Maori | 1922 | 25 January | Hopere Uru | Death | Henare Uru | ||
Dunedin North | 1922 | 21 June | Edward Kellett | Death | Jim Munro |