1954 New Zealand general election

The 1954 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament's 31st term. It saw the governing National Party remain in office, but with a slightly reduced majority. It also saw the debut of the new Social Credit Party, which won more than eleven percent of the vote but failed to win a seat.

1954 New Zealand general election

← 1951 13 November 1954 (1954-11-13) 1957 →
← outgoing members elected members →
All 80 seats in the House of Representatives 41 seats were needed for a majority
Turnout	1,096,877 (91.4%)
First party Second party   Leader Sidney Holland Walter Nash Party National Labour Leader since 26 November 1940 17 January 1951 Leader's seat Fendalton Hutt Last election 50 seats, 54.0% 30 seats, 45.8% Seats won 45 35 Seat change 5 5 Popular vote 485,630 484,028 Percentage 44.3% 44.1% Swing 9.7% 1.7%
Results of the election.
Prime Minister before election Sidney Holland National Subsequent Prime Minister Sidney Holland National

Background

The National Party had formed its first administration after the 1949 elections. It had then been re-elected by a large margin amid the industrial disputes of the 1951 election. The Prime Minister, Sidney Holland, was popular in many sectors of society for his strong line against striking dockworkers and coalminers, while Labour's leader, Walter Nash, had been criticised for his failure to take a firm stand on the issue. Labour was troubled by internal disputes, with Nash subjected to an unsuccessful leadership challenge only a few months before the election. For the election, the National government adopted a "steady as she goes" approach, saying that the country was in good hands and did not need any major policy realignments.

Nash tried to make the election about the issue of cost-of-living with most of Labour's campaign promises being financial policies. He frequently highlighted the fact that in 1949 National had promised to "make the pound go further" but five years on what cost £1 (20 shillings) now cost 28 shillings. Labour's campaign promises included raising the child allowance to 15 shillings a week, housing loans with only 3% interest and the introduction of a PAYE income taxation system. After a slow start to his campaign, things improved for Nash towards the end of his campaign. This was evidenced by his audiences becoming more enthusiastic such as one meeting held at the Auckland Town Hall where a crowd of 10,000 impatiently telling the first speaker, trade union president Fintan Patrick Walsh, to sit down and a chant of "we want Walter" breaking out.

The Social Credit campaign meetings aroused far more public interest than those of the main parties. A common public perception was Labour and National were increasingly close to each other on policies compared to the substantial policy differences in the 1930s. In an attempt to counter the public enthusiasm to Social Credit, Labour promised mid-campaign to make the state the sole authority for the issue of credit and currency.

Contemporary commentary in The New Zealand Listener noted the unusually quiet tone of the 1954 campaign, observing that while the absence of controversy may have led some to worry about public apathy, the gravity of electing a government still carried democratic weight. The article suggested that the electorate's familiarity with the major parties’ policies, combined with an educated public and increased access to political debate through radio broadcasts, meant that voters could make informed decisions even without attending campaign meetings in person.

The election

The date for the main 1954 elections was 13 November. 1,209,670 people were registered to vote, and turnout was 91.4%. The number of seats being contested was 80, a number which had been fixed since 1902.

In what was described at the time as the most competitive election since 1935, the 1954 contest featured an unusually high number of candidates and the active presence of a third party in all but one seat. Fifteen electorates had no sitting member re-contesting due to retirements and boundary changes, while two others, Eden and Onslow, saw incumbent MPs standing against each other. Electoral boundary revisions were extensive, affecting nearly all electorates, and resulted in the abolition of six electorates (Arch Hill, Brooklyn, Mt. Victoria, Parnell, Piako, and Waimarino).

The following new (or reconstituted) electorates were introduced in 1954: Heretaunga, Manukau, Rotorua, Stratford, Waipa and Waitemata. Two candidates, both called John Stewart, came second; in Auckland Central for National and in Eden for Labour.

MPs retiring in 1954

Ten MPs retired at the election, see cartoon.

Party		Name	Electorate
	Independent	William Sheat	Patea
	National	William Bodkin	Central Otago
		Wilfred Fortune	Eden
		Andy Sutherland	Hauraki
		Chales Bowden	Karori
		Alfred Murdoch	Marsden
		Edward Gordon	Rangitīkei
		Clifton Webb	Rodney
		Walter Broadfoot	Waitomo
	Labour	Robert McKeen	Island Bay
		Bob Semple	Miramar
		Charles Chapman	Wellington Central

Paddy Kearins also left parliament at the election. His electorate of Waimarino was abolished and he failed to gain selection to stand for Labour in the replacement electorate of Rotorua. Two Labour MPs had announced their intention to retire at the 1954 election (Harry Combs MP for Onslow and Arthur Osborne MP for Onehunga) but died before the end of the parliament.

Results

The 1954 election saw the governing National Party re-elected with a ten-seat margin, a drop from the twenty-seat margin it previously held. National won forty-five seats to the Labour Party's thirty-five. The popular vote was much closer, however, with the two parties separated by only 0.2% (1,602 votes). On preliminary results Labour was leading in 37 seats and was actually ahead of National in the popular vote by 0.33%. No seats were won by minor party candidates or by independents, but the new Social Credit Party managed to win 11.2% of the vote, and it can be argued that Social Credit saved the National Government by providing an alternative to Labour and so minimising the two-party swing. Nash argued that Social Credit's impact on the election was being a spoiler, claiming Labour was denied victory because of this.

Election results
Party		Candidates	Total votes	Percentage	Seats won	change
	National	79	485,630	44.3	45	−5
	Labour	80	484,028	44.1	35	+5
	Social Credit	79	122,573	11.2	0	±0
	Communist	8	1,134	0.1	0	±0
	Independents	9	3,474	0.3	0	±0
Total		255	1,096,877		80

Votes summary

Popular vote

National			44.27%
Labour			44.13%
Social Credit			11.17%
Others			0.43%

Parliament seats

National			56.25%
Labour			43.75%

The table below shows the results of the 1954 general election:

Key

  National   Labour   Independent   Social Credit

Electorate results for the 1954 New Zealand general election

Electorate	Incumbent		Winner		Majority	Runner up
General electorates
Ashburton		Geoff Gerard			2,292		George Glassey
Auckland Central		Bill Anderton			4,093		John Weir Stewart
Avon		John Mathison			4,955		Arthur Norman Stone
Awarua		George Herron			3,172		J P Wyatt
Bay of Plenty		Bill Sullivan			3,062		Godfrey Santon
Buller		Jerry Skinner			3,348		Derisly Manwell Carson
Central Otago		William Bodkin		Jack George	2,074		Peter John Scott
Christchurch Central		Robert Macfarlane			3,395		Oliver G. Moody
Clutha		James Roy			1,490		T A Rodgers
Dunedin Central		Phil Connolly			330		Marcus Anderson
Dunedin North		Ethel McMillan			2,791		Helen Black
Eden		Wilfred Fortune		Duncan Rae	8		John Stewart
Egmont		Ernest Corbett			2,977		Roy Evans
Fendalton		Sidney Holland			3,004		Roy Henry McDonald
Franklin		Jack Massey			4,587		Percival Peacock
Gisborne		Harry Dudfield		Reginald Keeling	521		Harry Dudfield
Grey Lynn		Fred Hackett			4,807		Tom McGowan
Hamilton		Hilda Ross			1,430		Ben Waters
Hastings		Sydney Jones		Ted Keating	252		Sydney Jones
Hauraki		Andy Sutherland		Arthur Kinsella	2,659		Brevat William Dynes
Hawkes Bay		Cyril Harker			3,109		A Stafford
Heretaunga	New electorate			Phil Holloway	5,058		Allan McCready
Hobson		Sidney Smith			2,584		Cecil William Elvidge
Hurunui		William Gillespie			2,395		Norman Kirk
Hutt		Walter Nash			3,681		Clevedon Costello
Invercargill		Ralph Hanan			943		William Denham
Island Bay		Robert McKeen		Arnold Nordmeyer	3,824		John Maurice Whitta
Karori		Charles Bowden		Jack Marshall	1,811		Jim Bateman
Lyttelton		Harry Lake			24		Tom McGuigan
Manawatu		Matthew Oram			2,228		Patrick Kelliher
Manukau	New electorate			Leon Götz	3,072		Cyril Stamp
Marlborough		Tom Shand			1,635		George Allan Turner
Marsden		Alfred Murdoch		Don McKay	872		Mervyn Allan Hosking
Miramar		Bob Semple		Bill Fox	1,527		Robert John McConnell
Mornington		Wally Hudson			3,886		Walter MacDougall
Mt Albert		Warren Freer			3,226		Robert Muldoon
Napier		Peter Tait		Jim Edwards	720		Peter Tait
Nelson		Edgar Neale			717		Stan Whitehead
New Plymouth		Ernest Aderman			1,178		Clarence Robert Parker
North Shore		Dean Eyre			1,395		Arthur Faulkner
Oamaru		Thomas Hayman			1,358		J H Rapson
Onehunga		Hugh Watt			4,389		Alfred E. Allen
Onslow		Henry May			519		Wilfred Fortune
Otahuhu		Leon Götz		James Deas	1,806		Leonard Bradley
Otaki		Jimmy Maher			963		Ernie Langford
Pahiatua		Keith Holyoake			3,519		Ronald Bell
Palmerston North		Blair Tennent		Philip Skoglund	346		Blair Tennant
Patea		William Sheat		Roy Jack	662		Benjamin Winchcombe
Petone		Mick Moohan			4,211		Fanny Elizabeth Soward
Ponsonby		Ritchie Macdonald			3,948		Harold Barry
Raglan		Hallyburton Johnstone			857		James Harrison Wilson
Rangitikei		Edward Gordon		Norman Shelton	2,679		Stephen Malcolm Roberton
Remuera		Ronald Algie			3,544		Bob Tizard
Riccarton		Angus McLagan			4,343		Balfour Grieve Dingwall
Rodney		Clifton Webb		Jack Scott	3,270		Arthur Hellyn
Roskill		John Rae			1,652		Elizabeth Morris
Rotorua	New electorate			Ray Boord	822		Percy Allen
St Albans		Jack Watts			608		Mick Connelly
St Kilda		Jim Barnes			114		Fred Jones
Selwyn		John McAlpine			2,521		Daniel Clinton
Stratford	New electorate			Thomas Murray	2,966		Brian Edgar Richmond
Sydenham		Mabel Howard			5,560		Alma Schumacher
Tamaki		Eric Halstead			1,986		Pat Curran
Tauranga		George Walsh			3,448		Oliver Liddell
Timaru		Clyde Carr			1,423		Vic Wilson
Waikato		Geoffrey Sim			4,698		Albert Clifford Tucker
Waimate		(vacant)		Alfred Davey	1,438		Neville Pickering
Waipa	New electorate			Stan Goosman	4,435		Harold Francis Gallagher
Wairarapa		Bert Cooksley			1,691		Bob Wilkie
Waitakere		Rex Mason			3,424		Jim McAllister
Waitemata	New electorate			Norman King	387		Hubert Morrison
Waitomo		Walter Broadfoot		David Seath	1,480		Vic Haines
Wallace		Tom Macdonald			4,466		J W Cleary
Wanganui		Joe Cotterill			305		Jack Rumbold
Wellington Central		Charles Chapman		Frank Kitts	627		Allan Highet
Westland		Jim Kent			3,605		Mark Wallace
Māori electorates
Eastern Maori		Tiaki Omana			3,094		Claude Anaru
Northern Maori		Tapihana Paikea			4,435		Tono Waetford
Southern Maori		Eruera Tirikatene			2,864		Turi Carroll
Western Maori		Iriaka Rātana			6,637		William Rakeipoho Bennett

Table footnotes

1. John Stewart was first on election night, but lost when special votes were included
2. Tom McGuigan was first on election night, but lost when special votes were included
3. 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.
4. David Campbell Kidd, the National Party MP for Waimate, died less than two months before the election, leaving his seat vacant.