Brooklyn (New Zealand electorate)

Brooklyn was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate in Wellington city from 1946 to 1954. It was represented by two prominent members of the Labour Party: Peter Fraser, who was Prime Minister (1940–1949), and Arnold Nordmeyer, who was later Minister of Finance (1957–1960).

Population centres

The 1941 New Zealand census had been postponed due to World War II, so the 1946 electoral redistribution had to take ten years of population growth and movements into account. The North Island gained a further two electorates from the South Island due to faster population growth. The abolition of the country quota through the Electoral Amendment Act, 1945 reduced the number and increased the size of rural electorates. None of the existing electorates remained unchanged, 27 electorates were abolished, eight former electorates were re-established, and 19 electorates were created for the first time, including Brooklyn.[1] The electorate was based on the southern suburbs of Wellington city, around the hill suburb of Brooklyn, as follows:

All that area bounded by a line commencing at a point in the City of Wellington at the junction of The Terrace and Vivian Street; thence along the middle of Vivian Street and its production to a point in line with the middle of the reserve between Cambridge Terrace and Kent Terrace; thence southerly along the middle of that reserve to Ellice Street, and along the middle of Ellice Street, Dufferin Street, and Rugby Street to a point in line with the western boundary of the Government House Grounds; thence to and along the western boundary of the Government House Grounds and the production of that boundary to a point in the middle of Hospital Road; thence along the middle of Hospital Road, Adelaide Road, Riddiford Street, and Hall Street to the middle of the western end of the last-mentioned street; thence along a right line due west to the middle of Hutchison Road; thence along the middle of Hutchison Road, Finnimore Terrace, Dransfield Street, Liardet Street, Short Street, Moffitt Street, Krull Street, Mana Street, Raleigh Street, Veronica Street, Mornington Road, Clarence Street, and Borlase Street, to and across Happy Valley Road, to and along the middle of the road reserve forming the northern boundaries of Lots 17, 13, 9, 5, and 1 of Section 14, Ohiro District, and along the production of that middle-line to a point on the eastern boundary of the Wellington Water-supply Reserve; thence northerly along the eastern boundary of that reserve to its intersection with the south-western boundary of Section 3, Upper Kaiwarra District; thence along a right line to the south-eastern corner of Section 10, Ohiro District; thence along the south-eastern boundary of the Town Belt to a point in line with the middle of Durham Street; thence to and along the middle of Durham Street, Aro Street, St. John Street, Abel Smith Street, and The Terrace to the point of commencement.[2]

The Brooklyn electorate was abolished through the 1952 electoral redistribution, and its area divided between the Wellington Central, Island Bay, and Karori electorates. These changes came into effect through the 1954 election.[3]

History

The electorate existed from 1946 to 1954,[4] but both the MPs who held the seat were prominent in the Labour Party; Peter Fraser, who was Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1940–1949 in the First Labour Government;[5] and after Fraser's death on 12 December 1950[6] Arnold Nordmeyer,[7] who was later Minister of Finance in the Second Labour Government from 1957–1960,[8] famous for the Black Budget that contributed to Labour's defeat at the 1960 election.[9] In 1954 Nordmeyer moved to the Island Bay electorate.[7]

Members of Parliament

Key

  Labour

Election Winner
1946 election Peter Fraser
1949 election
1951 by-election Arnold Nordmeyer
1951 election
(Electorate abolished in 1954; see Island Bay)

Election results

1951 election

1951 general election: Brooklyn[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Arnold Nordmeyer 6,375 58.35 −5.21
National Charles William Clift 4,549 41.64
Majority 1,826 16.71 −11.96
Turnout 10,924 83.53 +19.93
Registered electors 13,077

1951 by-election

1951 Brooklyn by-election[10]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Arnold Nordmeyer 5,287 63.56
National Len Jacobsen‎ 2,902 34.88
Communist Connie Birchfield 129 1.55 −0.59
Majority 2,385 28.67
Turnout 8,318 63.60 −22.13
Registered electors 13,077
Labour hold Swing

1949 election

1949 general election: Brooklyn[11]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Peter Fraser 7,176 63.91 −1.84
National Berta Burns 4,220 37.58
Communist Connie Birchfield 241 2.14
Majority 2,956 26.32 −5.16
Turnout 11,228 85.73 −1.36
Registered electors 13,096

1946 election

1946 general election: Brooklyn[12]
Party Candidate Votes % ±%
Labour Peter Fraser 8,216 65.75
National Stewart Hardy 4,281 34.45
Majority 3,935 31.48
Turnout 12,497 87.09
Registered electors 14,349

Notes

  1. ^ McRobie 1989, pp. 91–96.
  2. ^ "Report of the Representation Commission". Appendices to the Journals of the House of Representatives. Session 1, H 46: 59. 1946 – via Papers Past.
  3. ^ McRobie 1989, pp. 94–99.
  4. ^ Wilson 1985, p. 259.
  5. ^ Wilson 1985, pp. 58, 198.
  6. ^ Beaglehole, Tim. "Fraser, Peter". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
  7. ^ a b Wilson 1985, p. 223.
  8. ^ Wilson 1985, p. 88.
  9. ^ Brown, Bruce. "Nordmeyer, Arnold Henry". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 6 October 2012.
  10. ^ a b Norton 1988, p. 203.
  11. ^ "The General Election, 1949". National Library. 1950. pp. 1–5, 8. Retrieved 3 January 2014.
  12. ^ "The General Election, 1946". National Library. 1947. pp. 1–11, 14. Retrieved 1 January 2014.

References

  • McRobie, Alan (1989). Electoral Atlas of New Zealand. Wellington: GP Books. ISBN 0-477-01384-8.
  • Wilson, Jim (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
  • Norton, Clifford (1988). New Zealand Parliamentary Election Results 1946–1987: Occasional Publications No 1, Department of Political Science. Wellington: Victoria University of Wellington. ISBN 0-475-11200-8.
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