Summary
The 30th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the New Zealand Parliament. It was elected at the 1951 general election on 1 September of that year.
| 30th Parliament of New Zealand | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
 | |||||
| Overview | |||||
| Legislative body | New Zealand Parliament | ||||
| Term | 25 September 1951 – 1 October 1954 | ||||
| Election | 1951 New Zealand general election | ||||
| Government | First National Government | ||||
| House of Representatives | |||||
 | |||||
| Members | 80 | ||||
| Speaker of the House | Matthew Oram | ||||
| Prime Minister | Sidney Holland | ||||
| Leader of the Opposition | Walter Nash | ||||
| Sovereign | |||||
| Monarch | HM Elizabeth II — HM George VI until 6 February 1952 | ||||
| Governor-General | HE Lt. Gen. The Lord Norrie from 2 December 1952 — HE Lt. Gen. The Lord Freyberg until 15 August 1952 | ||||
1951 general election edit
The 1951 general election was held on Saturday, 1 September.[1] A total of 80 MPs were elected; 49 represented North Island electorates, 27 represented South Island electorates, and the remaining four represented Māori electorates; this was the same distribution used since the 1946 election.[2] 1,205,762 voters were enrolled and the official turnout at the election was 89.1%.[1]
Sessions edit
The 30th Parliament sat for five sessions (there were two sessions in 1954), and was prorogued on 4 October 1954.[3]
| Session | Opened | Adjourned |
|---|---|---|
| first | 25 September 1951 | 6 December 1951 |
| second | 25 June 1952 | 24 October 1952 |
| third | 8 April 1953 | 27 November 1953 |
| fourth | 12 January 1954 | 13 January 1954 |
| fifth | 22 June 1954 | 1 October 1954 |
Ministries edit
The National Party under Sidney Holland had been in power since the 1949 election, and Holland remained in charge until 1957, when he stepped down due to ill health.[4]
Overview of seats edit
The table below shows the number of MPs in each party following the 1951 election and at dissolution:
| Affiliation | Members | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| At 1951 election | At dissolution | ||
| National Government | 50 | 50 | |
| Labour Opposition | 30 | 30 | |
| Total |
80 | 80 | |
| Working Government majority | 20 | 20 | |
Notes
- The Working Government majority is calculated as all Government MPs less all other parties.
Initial composition of the 30th Parliament edit
The 1951 election saw the governing National Party re-elected with a twenty-seat margin, a substantial improvement on the twelve-seat margin it previously held. National won fifty seats compared with the Labour Party's thirty.[5] The popular vote was closer, however, with National winning 54% to Labour's 46%.[6] No seats were won by minor party candidates or by independents.[7] This was the last New Zealand general election in which any party has ever captured a majority of the popular vote.[6]
Key
Labour
National
Table footnotes:
- ^ Terry McCombs was first on election night, but lost when special votes were included
- ^ Tommy Armstrong was first on election night, but lost when special votes were included
- ^ Joe Hodgens was first on election night, but lost when special votes were included
By-elections during 30th Parliament edit
There were a number of changes during the term of the 30th Parliament.
| Electorate and by-election | Date | Incumbent | Cause | Winner | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dunedin North | 1953 | 12 December | Robert Walls | Death | Ethel McMillan | ||
| Onehunga | 1953 | 19 December | Arthur Osborne | Death | Hugh Watt | ||
| Onslow | 1954 | 7 July | Harry Combs | Death | Henry May | ||
| Patea | 1954 | 31 July | William Sheat | Resignation | William Sheat | ||
Notes edit
- ^ a b "General elections 1853–2005 – dates & turnout". Elections New Zealand. Archived from the original on 27 May 2010. Retrieved 2 December 2012.
- ^ Wilson 1985, p. 173.
- ^ Wilson 1985, p. 142.
- ^ Wilson 1985, pp. 86–87.
- ^ Wilson 1985, pp. 287–288.
- ^ a b Wilson 1985, p. 290.
- ^ Wilson 1985, p. 288.
- ^ "The New Zealand Official Year-Book, 1951–52". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
- ^ Gustafson 1986, p. 378.
- ^ Norton 1988, p. 314.
- ^ Gustafson 1986, pp. 360f.
- ^ Gustafson 1986, p. 390.
- ^ Gustafson 1986, p. 247.
References edit
- Gustafson, Barry (1986). The First 50 Years : A History of the New Zealand National Party. Auckland: Reed Methuen. ISBN 0-474-00177-6.
- Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.
- Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.