The previous electoral redistribution was undertaken in 1875 for the
1875–1876 election. In the six years since, New Zealand's European population had increased by 65%. In the 1881 electoral redistribution, the
House of Representatives increased the number of European representatives to 91 (up from 84 since the 1875–76 election). The number of Māori electorates was held at four. The House further decided that electorates should not have more than one representative, which led to 35 new electorates being formed, including Waipawa, and two electorates that had previously been abolished to be recreated. This necessitated a major disruption to existing boundaries.[1]
This district is bounded towards the North by the
Hawke's Bay Electoral District; towards the East by the
sea; towards the South by the Waimata Stream to its source; thence by a right line to
Trig. Station No. 41a; thence by a right line to Trig. Station on Whahatuaro; then by the
Manawatu River to the
Manawatu Gorge; thence towards the West by lines from peak to peak along the summit of the
Ruahine Range to the Hawke's Bay Electoral District,
History
The Waipawa electorate was established for the
1881 election.[3]
William Cowper Smith was the first representative. He was re-elected in
1884.[4] From
1887 to 1890 Smith represented the
Woodville electorate, which only existed for those three years.[5]
The representative for Waipawa for the period from 1887 to 1890 was
Thomas Tanner; he retired at the end of the parliamentary term.[6] Tanner was succeeded by Smith in the
1890 election; Smith retired at the end of the parliamentary term.[4]
Charles Hall represented Waipawa for the
Liberal Party from
1893 to 1896, when he was defeated by
George Hunter.[7] Hall in turn defeated Hunter in the
1899 election and then served the electorate until 1911, when he retired.[7] The
1911 election was won by Hunter, who continued to represent the electorate until 1930.[8]
An interesting situation arose in
1928. D. B. Kent was originally announced as an independent Liberal-Labour candidate.[9] He was then approached by the United Party and became their official candidate. The local supporters of the United Party had not been consulted on this, and did not support Kent, but backed Ernest Albert Goodger instead. Goodger thus stood as an independent United candidate.[10] This split the United Party vote, but Hunter again won with an absolute majority.[11]