30 September 1936 1938 general → 8,593 3,998 | Turnout 12,591 68.24% 31.75% | |
Winner Arthur Osborne | ||
The 1936 Manukau by-election held on 30 September was caused by the resignation of William Joseph Jordan during the term of the 25th New Zealand Parliament. The by-election in the Manukau electorate was contested by Arthur Osborne for Labour and Frederick Doidge for National, with Osborne winning the election.
Contents
Background and candidates
A by-election was triggered due to William Joseph Jordan's resignation upon his appointment to the post of High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.
Labour
The Labour party chose Arthur Osborne as their candidate for the seat. He had previously contested the Waitemata electorate unsuccessfully in the 1925, 1928, and 1931 elections. In the 1935 election, he unsuccessfully contested the Parnell electorate.
National
The newly created National Party chose Frederick Doidge as their contestant for the seat. In the 1935 election, Doidge ran as an Independent in the Rotorua electorate, despite briefly courting the anti-Labour Democrat Party. Of the four candidates, he came second after Labour's Alexander Moncur. As a new party this was National's first real electoral test to see if the unification of the United, Reform & Democrat parties would be able to combat Labour more effectively.
Results
The following table contains the results of the by-election:
The Manukau electorate was abolished at the next election in 1938. Osborne shifted to the new seat of Onehunga, which he held until his death in 1951. Doidge later represented the electorate of Tauranga for National from 1938 to 1951, when he retired.