Dunedin and Suburbs North was a parliamentaryelectorate in the city ofDunedin inOtago, New Zealand from 1863 to 1866. It was a multi-member electorate.
During the second session (from 7 July to 15 September 1862)[1] of the3rd Parliament, theRepresentation Act, 1862[2] was passed. The Act stipulated that the two-memberCity of Dunedin electorate was to be abolished in 1863 and replaced with Dunedin and Suburbs North andDunedin and Suburbs South. Clause 9 of the Act read:[3]
The existing two members of the City of Dunedin shall thenceforth, as long as they retain their seats, be respectively members of the district of Dunedin and suburbs North and Dunedin and suburbs South, in manner following, that is to say, the earliest elected member shall be a member for the district of Dunedin and suburbs North, and the last elected member shall be a member for the district of Dunedin and suburbs South.
The first elected member wasThomas Dick, but he resigned from the City of Dunedin electorate during 1863.John Richardson was elected on 20 April 1863.[4] Future PremierJulius Vogel was elected separately in the1863 by-election election some months later on 29 September 1863.[5] Both members served until Parliament was dissolved on 27 January 1866.
All this happened during the time of theOtago gold rush, which led to a significant increase inOtago's population. Changes to electorates reflected this situation. During this time, theGoldfields and laterGoldfields Towns electorates were established.[6]
The electorate was abolished in 1866. At that time, the City of Dunedin electorate was re-established. The Dunedin electorates ofCaversham,Port Chalmers andRoslyn were all first established in 1866.[6]
The electorate was represented by twomembers of parliament:
| Election | Winners | |||
| 1863 supplementary election | John Richardson (Independent) | (vacant) | ||
| 1863 by-election | Julius Vogel (Independent) | |||