1899 City of Wellington by-election
New Zealand by-election
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The 25 July 1899 City of Wellington by-election was caused by the resignation of incumbent MP John Hutcheson over the Marine Scandal.[1] Hutcheson, along with MP Frederick Pirani had accused Premier Richard Seddon and Minister of Marine William Hall-Jones amongst others, of using influence to obtain Mariners certificates for unqualified candidates in contravention of the recent Shipping and Seamen's Act.[2] When the Marine Commission report [3] declared that the charges were unfounded Hutcheson resigned in order to exonerate himself by means of a by-election win.
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25 July 1899
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| Turnout | 77.26% | |||||||||||||||
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1896 election result
General election, 1896 results: City of Wellington[4]
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LiberalâLabour | John Hutcheson | 6,410 | 48.68 | ||
| Independent | Robert Stout | 6,305 | 47.88 | ||
| Liberal | George Fisher | 5,858 | 44.49 | ||
| Conservative | Arthur Atkinson | 5,830 | 44.27 | ||
| Liberal | Charles Wilson | 5,569 | 42.29 | ||
| Conservative | Andrew Agnew Stuart Menteath | 5,559 | 42.22 | ||
| Liberal | Francis Fraser | 1,811 | 13.75 | ||
| Independent | Justinian John Kivern Powell | 185 | 1.40 | ||
| Liberal | Arthur Warburton | 91 | 0.69 | ||
| Majority | 28 1 | 0.21 | |||
| Total votes | 37,618 | ||||
| Turnout | 13,168[8]2 | 68.21 | |||
| Registered electors | 19,304[9] | ||||
1 Majority is difference between lowest winning poll (Fisher, 5859) and highest losing poll (Atkinson, 5831)
2 Turnout is total number of voters - as voters had three votes each total votes cast was higher (37,624)
1899 by-election result
The following table gives the election results:
| Party | Candidate | Votes | % | ±% | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LiberalâLabour | John Hutcheson | 6,945 | 58.28 | ||
| Independent | Edwin George Jellicoe[10] | 4,971 | 41.72 | ||
| Majority | 1,974 | 16.57 | |||
| Turnout | 11,916 | ||||
