Mid-Canterbury (New Zealand electorate)

Mid-Canterbury is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate in rural Canterbury. It existed from 1928 to 1946 and was represented by six Members of Parliament, including Mary Grigg, the first woman National Party MP.

In the 1927 electoral redistribution, the North Island gained a further electorate from the South Island due to faster population growth. Five electorates were abolished, two former electorates were re-established, and three electorates, including Mid-Canterbury, were created for the first time. These changes came into effect with the 1928 election.

The electorate was rural.

The electorate existed from 1928 to 1946.David Jones was the first representative, winning the 1928 election by a wafer-thin majority of 55 votes (0.59%) against Jeremiah Connolly; he had previously held Kaiapoi and Ellesmere. Jones was defeated by Connolly in the 1931 election. Connolly died on 2 October 1935 and as this was only weeks prior to the 1935 election, the seat remained vacant and no by-election was called.

Horace Herring of the Labour Party won the 1935 election. At the next election in 1938, Herring was narrowly beaten by Arthur Grigg of the National Party. Grigg enlisted in the NZEF as a Major in World War II, and was killed in action in Libya on 29 November 1941. He was succeeded by his widow Mary Grigg at a 1942 by-election; she became the first woman National MP. But in June 1943 she remarried, to another National MP, William Polson, and resigned.

...
Wikipedia