Dunedin Country by-election, 1858
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The Dunedin Country by-election 1858 was a by-election held in the multi-member Dunedin Country electorate during the 2nd New Zealand Parliament, on 16 June 1858. The by-election was caused by the resignation of incumbent MP John Cargill and was won by John Taylor.
The Dunedin Country electorate was one of the original 24 parliamentary electorates of New Zealand from 1853, and it was one of the two-member electorates. John Cargill was one of the original representatives of the Dunedin Country electorate, and he again won election in 1855; the second representative in 1855 was his father, William Cargill. Cargill Jr. was one of many members of the House of Representatives who resigned prior to the second session of the 2nd New Zealand Parliament. The house had not been convened in 1857 and Cargill placed an advertisement in the Otago Witness on 12 September 1857, announcing his intention of handing in his resignation. At the opening of the second session of the 2nd Parliament on 10 April 1858, the speaker read out 14 resignations, including that of Cargill.
The Otago Witness discussed various potential candidates for the by-election prior to the nomination meeting. William Henry Teschemaker was known to have declined to be elected; he would later in the year be elected to Northern electorate of the Otago Provincial Council. The intentions of Alexander Chalmers were unknown. It was speculated that William Henry Valpy, Jr. would accept to be the representative. It was also known that John Taylor was interested in standing, but the Otago Witness had a strong dislike to him, as he frequently moved to new towns and had only been in Otago for a short time. A week later, the next edition of the Otago Witness discussed Taylor and Valpy as the only candidates who would contest the election; it was stated that both had no prior political experience. Valpy had, however, not offered himself for election, whilst Taylor had addressed the electors at a meeting. At the meeting, Taylor confirmed his political independence and inexperience:
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