30th New Zealand Parliament
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 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| 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
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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 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
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 | 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
- "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.
- 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.