Waitotara (New Zealand electorate)

Template:Use New Zealand English Waitotara was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate in South Taranaki. It existed from 1881 to 1893, and again from 1978 to 1996. It was represented by four Members of Parliament.

Population centres

The previous electoral redistribution was undertaken in 1875 for the 1875–1876 election. In the six years since, New Zealand's European population had increased by 65%. In the 1881 electoral redistribution, the House of Representatives increased the number of European representatives to 91 (up from 84 since the 1875–76 election). The number of Māori electorates was held at four. The House further decided that electorates should not have more than one representative, which led to 35 new electorates being formed, including Waitotara, and two electorates that had previously been abolished to be recreated. This necessitated a major disruption to existing boundaries.

The electorate was rural, in South Taranaki. It was based on the town of Waitotara, and is north of the city of Wanganui. Its original area was bounded by Template:NZ electorate link and Template:NZ electorate link in the west, Template:NZ electorate link in the north, and Template:NZ electorate link in the east. It bordered onto the South Taranaki Bight and went around the Template:NZ electorate link electorate. It included the towns of Patea, Pipiriki, Raetihi, and Ohakune.

History

The electorate existed in the 19th century from 1881 to 1893. It was represented by John Bryce from 1881 to 1887, and then by George Hutchison from 1887 to 1893.

In the 20th century the seat existed from 1978 to the introduction of MMP in 1996 and was represented by two National MPs.

At the 1996 election, the bulk of the Waitotara electorate was merged with Wanganui to create the new electorate of Whanganui, and Peter Gresham was defeated by the Wanganui incumbent, Jill Pettis of the Labour Party. Gresham remained in Parliament as a list MP but retired in 1999.

Members of Parliament

Waitotara was represented by four Members of Parliament.

Key

Elections	Winner
Template:NZ election link		John Bryce
Template:NZ election link
Template:NZ election link		George Hutchison
Template:NZ election link
(Electorate abolished 1893–1978)
Template:NZ election link		Venn Young
Template:NZ election link
Template:NZ election link
Template:NZ election link
Template:NZ election link		Peter Gresham
Template:NZ election link

Election results

1890 election

Template:Election box Registered electors

1890 general election: Waitotara

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
		George Hutchison	Template:Replace	50.58
		Robert Bruce	931	49.42
Majority			22	1.16
Turnout			1,884	73.96