31st New Zealand Parliament
The 31st New Zealand Parliament was a term of the New Zealand Parliament. It was elected at the 1954 general election on 13 November of that year.
| 31st Parliament of New Zealand | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||
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| Overview | |||||
| Legislative body | New Zealand Parliament | ||||
| Term | 22 March 1955 – 25 October 1957 | ||||
| Election | 1954 New Zealand general election | ||||
| Government | First National Government | ||||
| House of Representatives | |||||
 | |||||
| Members | 80 | ||||
| Speaker of the House | Matthew Oram | ||||
| Prime Minister | Keith Holyoake — Sidney Holland until 20 September 1957 | ||||
| Leader of the Opposition | Walter Nash | ||||
| Sovereign | |||||
| Monarch | HM Elizabeth II | ||||
| Governor-General | HE Lt. Gen. The Lord Norrie | ||||
1954 general election
The 1954 general election was held on Saturday, 13 November.[1] A total of 80 MPs were elected; 50 represented North Island electorates, 26 represented South Island electorates, and the remaining four represented Māori electorates; this was a gain of one electorate for the North Island from the South Island since the 1951 election.[2] 1,209,670 voters were enrolled and the official turnout at the election was 91.4%.[1]
Sessions
The 31st Parliament sat for three sessions, and was prorogued on 25 October 1957.[3]
| Session | Opened | Adjourned |
|---|---|---|
| first | 22 March 1955 | 28 October 1955 |
| second | 4 April 1956 | 26 October 1956 |
| third | 11 June 1957 | 25 October 1957 |
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 in September 1957 some two months prior to the 1957 election. Holland was succeeded by Keith Holyoake, but the Labour Party narrowly defeated National at the 1957 election, and the government changed in mid-December of that year.[4]
Overview of seats
The table below shows the number of MPs in each party following the 1954 election and at dissolution:
| Affiliation | Members | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| At 1954 election | At dissolution | ||
| National Government | 45 | 45 | |
| Labour Opposition | 35 | 35 | |
| Total |
80 | 80 | |
| Working Government majority | 10 | 10 | |
Notes
- The Working Government majority is calculated as all Government MPs less all other parties.
Initial composition of the 31st Parliament
The table below shows the results of the 1954 general election:
Key
National Labour Independent Social Credit
- Table footnotes
- John Stewart was first on election night, but lost when special votes were included
- Tom McGuigan was first on election night, but lost when special votes were included
- National deselected the sitting MP (Alfred Murdoch) (q.v.) in favour of William Vallance; then Vallance had tax problems and was replaced by Don McKay. When Vallance ran as an independent candidate, the vote-splitting almost cost National the seat.[8]
- David Campbell Kidd, the National Party MP for Waimate, died less than two months before the election, leaving his seat vacant.[9]
By-elections during 31st Parliament
There were a number of changes during the term of the 31st Parliament.
| Electorate and by-election | Date | Incumbent | Cause | Winner | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Riccarton | 1956 | 27 October | Angus McLagan | Death | Mick Connelly | ||
| Bay of Plenty | 1957 | 6 April | Bill Sullivan | Resignation | Percy Allen | ||
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. 86–88.
- Norton 1988, pp. ?.
- Norton 1988, p. 214.
- Norton 1988, p. 222.
- Gustafson 1986, p. 235.
- Wilson 1985, p. 210.
- Espiner, Guyon (3 March 2012). "Profile: Labour deputy Grant Robertson". New Zealand Listener. Retrieved 26 September 2014.
- Gustafson 1986, p. 353.
- Gustafson 1986, p. 355.
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 ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.