Arch Hill (New Zealand electorate)

Arch Hill was one of 80 electorates in New Zealand between 1946 and 1954. Located in central Auckland, the electorate was considered a safe seat for the Labour Party in its eight years of existence.

Arch Hill was one of many urban electorates created as part of the 1946 electoral redistribution. The 1946 redistribution abolished the country quota, which had previously accorded 28% greater representation for rural electorates.

Overview

The 1941 New Zealand census had been cancelled due to World War II, so the 1946 electoral redistribution had to take ten years of population growth and movement into account. The North Island gained a further two electorates from the South Island due to faster population growth. The abolition of the country quota through the Electoral Amendment Act, 1945 reduced the number and increased the size of rural electorates and had the opposite effect for electorates in urban areas like Auckland. None of the 80 existing electorates remained unchanged; 27 electorates were abolished, eight former electorates were re-established, and 19 electorates were created for the first time, including Arch Hill.^[1] The Arch Hill electorate was formed out of portions of the Auckland Central, Auckland West, and Grey Lynn electorates. It was centred on the suburb of Arch Hill, and included parts of Grey Lynn, Eden Terrace, Newton, and southern Ponsonby.^[2]^[3]

The Arch Hill electorate was abolished through the 1952 electoral redistribution, when it was absorbed into the neighbouring electorates of Auckland Central, Ponsonby, and Eden. These changes came into effect through the 1954 election.^[4]

History

The first representative was Bill Parry, who had become prominent through his involvement in the 1912 Waihi miners' strike and his resulting imprisonment, and who had previously represented Auckland Central since the 1919 election.^[5] Parry retired at the end of the parliamentary term in 1951,^[6] and died a year later on 27 November 1952.^[5]

Parry was succeeded through the 1951 election by John Stewart.^[7] When the Arch Hill electorate was abolished in 1954, Stewart contested the Eden electorate, but was beaten by National's Duncan Rae.^[8]

Members of Parliament

Key

Labour

Election	Winner
1946 election		Bill Parry
1949 election		Bill Parry
1951 election		John Stewart
(Electorate abolished in 1954; see Eden, Auckland Central)

Election results

1951 election

1951 general election: Arch Hill^[9]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	John Stewart	7,311	67.50
	National	Paddy Hope	3,346	30.89
	Communist	Vic Wilcox	173	1.59	−1.27
Majority			3,965	36.61
Turnout			10,830	85.78	−8.04
Registered electors			12,625

1949 election

1949 general election: Arch Hill^[10]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bill Parry	8,399	70.18	−2.97
	National	Gordon Frederick Smith	3,225	26.94
	Communist	Vic Wilcox	343	2.86	−1.22
Majority			5,174	43.23	−7.17
Turnout			11,967	93.82	−0.19
Registered electors			12,754

1946 election

1946 general election: Arch Hill^[11]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Labour	Bill Parry	9,558	73.15
	National	Edward James Clark	2,973	22.75
	Communist	Vic Wilcox	534	4.08
Majority			6,585	50.40
Turnout			13,065	94.01
Registered electors			13,897

Notes

^ McRobie 1989, pp. 91–96.
^ McRobie 1989, pp. 90–94.
^ "Supplement to the New Zealand Gazette" (PDF). 1946. New Zealand Gazette (published 27 June 1946). 20 June 1946. p. 3. Retrieved 3 June 2022 – via New Zealand Legal Information Institute.
^ McRobie 1989, pp. 94–99.
^ ^a ^b Gustafson, Barry. "Parry, William Edward". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
^ Wilson 1985, p. 225.
^ Wilson 1985, p. 236.
^ Wilson 1985, pp. 228, 236.
^ "The New Zealand Official Year-Book, 1951–52". Statistics New Zealand. Archived from the original on 23 June 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2012.
^ "The General Election, 1949". National Library. 1950. pp. 1–5, 8. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
^ "The General Election, 1946". National Library. 1947. pp. 1–11, 14. Retrieved 1 January 2014.

References

McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN 0-477-01384-8.
Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.