Mataura (New Zealand electorate)

Mataura was a parliamentary electorate in the Southland Region of New Zealand, from 1866 to 1946.

In the 1865 electoral redistribution, the House of Representatives focussed its review of electorates to South Island electorates only, as the Central Otago Gold Rush had caused significant population growth, and a redistribution of the existing population. Fifteen additional South Island electorates were created, including Mataura, and the number of Members of Parliament was increased by 13 to 70.

Mataura was located in the rural Southland Region. It covered the area around Invercargill (which had its own urban electorate) and settlements included Bluff, Winton, Gore, Mataura, and Edendale.

Mataura was first established for the 1866 general election. The first representative was Dillon Bell from 1866 until when he retired from politics at the dissolution of parliament in December 1875. Bell was succeeded by William Wood, who won the 1876 election. Wood resigned at the end of 1878, as he had been appointed to the Legislative Council.

Woods resignation caused the 1879 by-election, which was won by James Shanks; he retired at the end of the parliamentary term in 1881. Shanks was succeeded by Francis Wallace Mackenzie, who won the 1881 election, but who was defeated in 1884 by George Richardson. In the 1893 election, Richardson was defeated by Robert McNab of the Liberal Party, but Richardson in turn defeated McNab in the 1896 election. In 1898, Richardson was declared bankrupt, and the resulting 1898 by-election was won by McNab, who served until he was defeated again in the 1908 election.

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