Southern Maori by-election, 1885

Southern Maori was one of the four original New Zealand parliamentary Māori electorates, from 1868 to 1996.

From its initial definition of the Maori electorates in 1867 to the 1954 Maori electoral boundary redefinition, the Southern Maori electorate covered the entire South Island plus it included Stewart Island. It did not include the Chatham Islands, which did not belong to any Maori electorate until after a change to the Legislative Act and from the 1922 election, the Chatham Islands belonged to the Western Maori electorate. The 1954 redefinition responded to the fact that the Southern Maori electorate had a much lower voter base than the three other Maori electorates, and this was responded to by adding the south-eastern part of the North Island to the Southern Maori electorate. Population centres that came to the electorate through this measure included Wellington, Masterton, Palmerston North, Napier, and Wairoa. These changes became effective with the 1954 election.

The next redistribution of Maori electoral boundaries was carried out in 1983, just after the responsibility for doing so had been transferred to the Representation Commission. The North Island boundaries of the Southern Maori electorate were adjusted, and Palmerston North transferred to the Western Maori electorate in that process. These boundaries were used in the 1984 election. Further boundary adjustments were undertaken in 1987, which became operative with the 1987 election.

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