Mount Victoria is a formerNew Zealand electorate, centred on the inner-city suburb ofMount Victoria in the southern suburbs ofWellington. It existed from 1946 to 1954, and was represented by oneMember of Parliament,Jack Marshall.
The1941 New Zealand census had been postponed due toWorld War II, so the 1946electoral redistribution had to take ten years of population growth and movements into account. TheNorth Island gained a further two electorates from theSouth Island due to faster population growth. The abolition of thecountry quota through theElectoral Amendment Act, 1945 reduced the number and increased the size of rural electorates. None of the existing electorates remained unchanged, 27 electorates were abolished, eight former electorates were re-established, and 19 electorates were created for the first time, including Mount Victoria.[1]
TheFirst Labour Government was defeated in the1949 election and the incomingNational Government changed the Electoral Act, with the electoral quota once again based on total population as opposed to qualified electors, and the tolerance was increased to 7.5% of the electoral quota. There was no adjustment in the number of electorates between theSouth andNorth Islands, but the law changes resulted in boundary adjustments to almost every electorate through the 1952 electoral redistribution; only five electorates were unaltered.[2] Five electorates were reconstituted and one was newly created, and a corresponding six electorates were abolished (including Mount Victoria); all of these in the North Island.[3] These changes took effect with the1954 election.[4]
After the war,Jack Marshall briefly established himself as abarrister, but was soon persuaded to stand as theNational Party's candidate for the new Wellington electorate of Mount Victoria in the1946 election. The electorate was marginal, but he won it by 911 votes. He was, however, nearly disqualified by a technicality – Marshall was employed at the time in a legal case for the government, something which ran afoul of rules barring politicians from giving business to their own firms. However, because Marshall had taken on the case before his election (and so could not have influenced the government's decision to give him employment), it was obvious that there had been no wrongdoing. As such, thePrime Minister,Peter Fraser of theLabour Party, amended the regulations.[5]
Marshall held the electorate for the three terms of its existence.[6] Through the1954 election, he transferred to theKarori electorate.[7]
Jack Marshall becamePrime Minister in theSecond National Government in 1972, afterKeith Holyoake retired. He was defeated byNorman Kirk in the1972 election, and was replaced as leader of theNational Party byRobert Muldoon in 1974.[5]
The Mount Victoria electorate was represented by oneMember of Parliament.[8]
Key
| Election | Winner | |
|---|---|---|
| 1946 election | Jack Marshall | |
| 1949 election | ||
| 1951 election | ||
| (Electorate abolished 1954; seeWellington Central andMiramar) | ||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National | Jack Marshall | 6,556 | 60.06 | +1.62 | |
| Labour | Frank Kitts | 4,358 | 39.94 | ||
| Majority | 2,198 | 20.12 | +4.02 | ||
| Turnout | 10,914 | 84.36 | −3.09 | ||
| Registered electors | 12,936 | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National | Jack Marshall | 6,562 | 58.44 | +5.35 | |
| Labour | Nathan Richard Seddon | 4,572 | 40.71 | ||
| Independent | Julius Hyde | 94 | 0.83 | ||
| Majority | 1,808 | 16.10 | +8.69 | ||
| Turnout | 11,228 | 87.45 | +0.99 | ||
| Registered electors | 12,839 | ||||
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| National | Jack Marshall | 6,520 | 53.09 | ||
| Labour | Eugene Casey | 5,609 | 45.67 | ||
| Independent Liberal | John Hart Parry | 152 | 1.23 | ||
| Majority | 911 | 7.41 | |||
| Turnout | 12,281 | 88.44 | |||
| Registered electors | 13,885 | ||||