Eden by-election, 1926

← 1925 general

15 April 1926 (1926-04-15)

1928 general →


Candidate	Rex Mason	James Gunson	Ellen Melville
Party	Labour	Reform	Independent Reform
Popular vote	4,589	4,163	2,197
Percentage	41.5%	37.6%	19.8%

Eden electorate boundaries used for the by-election

Member before election

Elected Member

The Eden by-election of 1926 was a by-election for the Eden electorate during the 22nd New Zealand Parliament. The seat became vacant after the appointment of the sitting member, James Parr of the Reform Party as High Commissioner to London. Parr resigned on 26 March.

The by-election was held on 15 April 1926. Three candidates contested the seat. James Gunson the official Reform candidate had been Mayor of Auckland from 1915 to 1925. Ellen Melville stood as an "Independent" Reform candidate, claiming interference by the party organiser Albert Davy prevented her being selected as the official candidate. The Reform Party vote was split allowing the Labour candidate, Rex Mason, to win. The Liberal Party was "so weak .... that they could not field a candidate.

Gunson was expected to "romp home" in the by-election; Reform had 55 seats. But with the Liberals having 11 seats plus two Liberal-leaning independents and Labour 12, Labour realised their chance to be the official Opposition and "threw their all" into their contest; helped by Melville standing as Independent Reform. "Never before or since have people in the sprawling electorate stretching from Eden Park, through Mount Albert, Pt Chevalier, New Lynn, Te Atatu, Massey and Hobsonville been wooed as assiduously as they were in March and April 1926" with party leaders Coates and Holland spending days in the electorate.

Harry Holland became Leader of the Opposition on 16 June 1926, as a result of the Eden by-election. Labour was now the second largest party in Parliament, replacing the Liberal Party (currently called the National Party ).

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