Southern Division (New Zealand electorate)

The Southern Division was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate in the Auckland Province from 1853 to 1860. It was a large two-member electorate south of the town of Auckland.

The New Zealand Constitution Act 1852, passed by the British government, allowed New Zealand to establish a representative government. The initial 24 New Zealand electorates were defined by Governor George Grey in March 1853. Southern Division was one of the initial two-member electorates.

Southern Division was a large electorate south of Auckland, extending to the southern boundary of the province and encompassing the Waikato, Coromandel, Bay of Plenty and East Cape. It bordered onto the Taranaki electorate Grey and Bell, and the 39th parallel south formed the boundary with the Wellington Province, where all land immediately south of this land was not incorporated into any electorate until 1858. When this unincorporated land was assigned to electorates that year, Southern Division had County of Hawke and Wanganui and Rangitikei as additional southern neighbours.

In the 1860 electoral redistribution, the House of Representatives increased the number of representatives by 12, reflecting the immense population growth since the original electorates were established in 1853. The redistribution created 15 additional electorates with between one and three members. The Southern Division electorate was abolished, and its area split for two new electorates, Franklin (two members) and Raglan (one member).

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