Inangahua (New Zealand electorate)

Inangahua is a former parliamentary electorate in the Buller District, which is part of the West Coast region of New Zealand, from 1881 to 1896. Surprisingly, the town of Inangahua Junction, which gave the electorate its name, was located in the adjacent Buller electorate until 1887.

The previous electoral redistribution was undertaken in 1875 for the 1875–76 election. In the six years since, New Zealand's European population had increased by 65%. In the 1881 electoral redistribution, the House of Representatives increased the number of European representatives to 91 (up from 84 since the 1875–76 election). The number of Māori electorates was held at four. The House further decided that electorates should not have more than one representative, which led to 35 new electorates being formed, including Inangahua, and two electorates that had previously been abolished to be recreated. This necessitated a major disruption to existing boundaries.

The original electorate was landlocked. Springs Junction and Reefton were located in the Inangahua electorate, but surprisingly, the township of Inangahua itself was located in the adjacent Buller electorate. In the 1887 electoral redistribution, the electorate expanded to the north and the west, gained access to the coast, and gained the townships of Inangahua, Owen River (a settlement during the gold rush), and Murchison.

Inangahua was represented by six Members of Parliament:Thomas S. Weston from 1881 to 1883 (resigned),Edward Shaw from 1883 to 1884 (retired),Andrew Agnew Stuart Menteath from 1884 to 1887 (elected for Te Aro electorate).Richard Reeves represented the electorate from 1887 to 1893, when he was adjudged bankrupt. He was challenged in the 1890 election by John Drake, a representative of Labour Unionists. The incumbent won the election by a one-vote margin (1003 votes to 1002).

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