30th New Zealand Parliament

30th Parliament of New Zealand
30th Parliament of New Zealand
	Parliament House, Wellington
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

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.

1951 general election

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

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

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

The table below shows the number of MPs in each party following the 1951 election and at dissolution:

Affiliation		Members
Affiliation		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

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

Electorate results for the 1951 New Zealand general election^[8]
Electorate			Majority
General electorates
Arch Hill	Bill Parry	John Stewart	3,965	Paddy Hope
Ashburton	Geoff Gerard		2,867	William Erle Rose
Auckland Central	Bill Anderton		2,168	Peter Hillyer
Avon	John Mathison		4,212	Douglas Warren Russell
Awarua	George Herron		3,755	Neville Pickering
Bay of Plenty	Bill Sullivan		4,047	Godfrey Santon
Brooklyn	Arnold Nordmeyer		1,826	Charles William Clift
Buller	Jerry Skinner		1,227	Phil McDonald
Central Otago	William Bodkin		3,620	T A Rodgers
Christchurch Central	Robert Macfarlane		4,103	Alma Schumacher
Clutha	James Roy		3,583	J M Sanders
Dunedin Central	Phil Connolly		373	Walter MacDougall
Dunedin North	Robert Walls		307	Donald Cameron
Eden	Wilfred Fortune		2,802	John Ronald Burfitt
Egmont	Ernest Corbett		4,896	Brian Edgar Richmond
Fendalton	Sidney Holland		4,366	Philip John Alley
Franklin	Jack Massey		5,358	Arthur Faulkner
Gisborne	Reginald Keeling	Harry Dudfield	338	Reginald Keeling
Grey Lynn	Fred Hackett		3,813	Harold Barry
Hamilton	Hilda Ross		2,252	Ben Waters
Hastings	Sydney Jones		1,138	Henry Edward Beattie
Hauraki	Andy Sutherland		4,468	Brevat William Dynes
Hawke's Bay	Cyril Harker		4,153	A Lowe
Hobson	Sidney Smith		5,337	Norman King
Hurunui	William Gillespie		2,921	Ed Cassidy
Hutt	Walter Nash		2,248	Jack Andrews
Invercargill	Ralph Hanan		2,123	F G Spurdle
Island Bay	Robert McKeen		1,680	James Duncan
Karori	Charles Bowden		3,453	Jim Bateman
Lyttelton	Terry McCombs	Harry Lake	133	Terry McCombs^{[note 1]}
Manawatu	Matthew Oram		3,465	B A Rodgers
Marlborough	Tom Shand		2,452	Ted Meachen
Marsden	Alfred Murdoch		4,001	Mervyn Allan Hosking
Miramar	Bob Semple		301	Cuthbert Taylor
Mornington	Wally Hudson		3,783	Richard Philling
Mount Albert	Warren Freer		604	Reg Judson
Mount Victoria	Jack Marshall		2,198	Frank Kitts
Napier	Tommy Armstrong	Peter Tait	44	Tommy Armstrong^{[note 2]}
Nelson	Edgar Neale		2,831	Stan Whitehead
New Plymouth	Ernest Aderman		2,335	Clarence Robert Parker
North Shore	Dean Eyre		2,155	Richard Wrathall
Oamaru	Thomas Hayman		1,315	C J Ryan
Onehunga	Arthur Osborne		1,966	Leonard Bradley
Onslow	Harry Combs		1,106	John S Meadowcroft^[9]
Otahuhu	Leon Götz		2,128	James Deas
Otaki	Jimmy Maher		1,142	Phil Holloway
Pahiatua	Keith Holyoake		4,598	Owen Jones
Palmerston North	Blair Tennent		200	Joe Hodgens^{[note 3]}
Parnell	Duncan Rae		1,587	Hugh Watt^[10]
Patea	William Sheat		2,467	Frederick William Finer
Petone	Mick Moohan		2,135	Norm Croft
Piako	Stan Goosman		6,364	Gilbert Parsons Kenah
Ponsonby	Ritchie Macdonald		1,504	Peter Dempsey^[11]
Raglan	Hallyburton Johnstone		1,766	James Harrison Wilson
Rangitikei	Edward Gordon		3,677	F A Dalzell
Remuera	Ronald Algie		5,346	Bob Tizard
Riccarton	Angus McLagan		2,265	Eric Philip Wills^[12]
Rodney	Clifton Webb		4,893	Arthur Laurence Leaming
Roskill	John Rae		440	Pat Curran
St Albans	Jack Watts		1,415	John Bernard Mora
St Kilda	Fred Jones	Jim Barnes	336	Fred Jones
Selwyn	John McAlpine		1,836	Jim Barclay
Sydenham	Mabel Howard		4,403	Albert Hugh Stott
Tamaki	Eric Halstead		1,461	Tom Skinner
Tauranga	Frederick Doidge	George Walsh	5,400	Hillary Joseph Pickett
Timaru	Clyde Carr		564	William Leslie Richards
Waikato	Geoffrey Sim		6,369	William Henry Bayly
Waimarino	Paddy Kearins		67	Arthur MacPherson
Waimate	David Kidd		2,232	A G Braddick
Wairarapa	Bert Cooksley		2,032	George Anders Hansen
Waitakere	Rex Mason		641	Robert Tapper
Waitomo	Walter Broadfoot		5,286	J Dwyer
Wallace	Tom Macdonald		5,060	J W Cleary
Wanganui	Joe Cotterill		226	Ernest Victor O'Keefe
Wellington Central	Charles Chapman		277	Berta Burns
Westland	Jim Kent		2,325	Isabella Catherine Brown
Māori electorates
Eastern Maori	Tiaki Omana		3,706	Turi Carroll
Northern Maori	Tapihana Paikea		2,132	James Henare^[13]
Southern Maori	Eruera Tirikatene		659	William Beaton
Western Maori	Iriaka Rātana		7,352	Hoeroa Marumaru

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

There were a number of changes during the term of the 30th Parliament.

Electorate and by-election		Date		Cause
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

^ ^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

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.

[9] Terry McCombs was first on election night, but lost when special votes were included

[10] Tommy Armstrong was first on election night, but lost when special votes were included

[12] Joe Hodgens was first on election night, but lost when special votes were included

[General_elections_1853–2005-1] "General elections 1853–2005 – dates & turnout". Elections New Zealand. Archived from the original on 27 May 2010. Retrieved 2 December 2012.

[FOOTNOTEWilson1985173-2] Wilson 1985, p. 173.

[FOOTNOTEWilson1985142-3] Wilson 1985, p. 142.

[FOOTNOTEWilson198586–87-4] Wilson 1985, pp. 86–87.

[FOOTNOTEWilson1985287–288-5] Wilson 1985, pp. 287–288.

[FOOTNOTEWilson1985290-6] Wilson 1985, p. 290.

[FOOTNOTEWilson1985288-7] Wilson 1985, p. 288.

[Year-Book-8] "The New Zealand Official Year-Book, 1951–52". Statistics New Zealand. Retrieved 19 November 2012.

[FOOTNOTEGustafson1986378-11] Gustafson 1986, p. 378.

[FOOTNOTENorton1988314-13] Norton 1988, p. 314.

[FOOTNOTEGustafson1986360f-14] Gustafson 1986, pp. 360f.

[FOOTNOTEGustafson1986390-15] Gustafson 1986, p. 390.

[FOOTNOTEGustafson1986247-16] Gustafson 1986, p. 247.

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