1875 Wellington City mayoral election

15 December 1875

Turnout

1,244


Candidate	William Hutchison	William Gisborne
Party	Independent	Independent
Popular vote	658	586
Percentage	52.89	47.11

Mayor before election

William Sefton Moorhouse

Elected Mayor

William Hutchison

The 1875 Wellington City mayoral election was the second election for the Mayor of Wellington held by public vote. The election was won by William Hutchison, who beat William Gisborne.

Background

Initially, councillors elected one of their own as mayor towards the end of the year, and the role was usually awarded to the most senior councillor. The system changed with the introduction of The Municipal Corporations Acts Amendment Act, 1875, as that legislation stipulated that mayors had to be elected at large (i.e. by eligible voters).^[1]

The incumbent mayor, William Sefton Moorhouse, did not stand again, and a farewell dinner was given for him on 1 December.^[2] William Gisborne was a strong candidate for the role, but he fell out with the public over him favouring denominational education. In addition, he then announced himself as a candidate for the 1875 general election in the City of Wellington electorate, and that triggered a concerted effort to find a suitable opponent. A 'less than optimal' candidate was eventually secured in William Hutchison, who had been in Wellington for less than two years, and whose newspaper, the Tribune, had failed during that time.^[3] One of the local newspapers, The Evening Post, was a very strong supporter of Gisborne, and lost no opportunity to outline the failings of Hutchison to the public.^[4]

Election results

The following table gives the election results:

1875 Wellington mayoral election^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Independent	William Hutchison	658	52.89
	Independent	William Gisborne	586	47.11
Majority			72	5.79
Turnout			1,244

The election was held on 15 December.^[6] Hutchison beat Gisborne, and The Evening Post commented that this came as no surprise as Gisborne's stance on education had been misrepresented and twisted without scruple.^[7] The defeat caused Gisborne to withdraw from the general election.^[3] In December 1876, Hutchison was re-elected unopposed for a second term as mayor.^[8]

References

^ "Municipal Corporations Acts Amendment Act 1875". University of Auckland. 21 October 1875. Retrieved 20 April 2013.
^ "Dinner to the Mayor". The Evening Post. Vol. XII, no. 131. 1 December 1875. p. 2. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
^ ^a ^b "Wellington". The Star. No. 2425. 30 December 1875. p. 3. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
^ "Evening Post". The Evening Post. Vol. XII, no. 138. 9 December 1875. p. 2. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
^ "The Mayoralty Election". The Evening Post. Vol. XII, no. 143. 15 December 1875. p. 2. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
^ "City Council". The Evening Post. Vol. XII, no. 139. 10 December 1875. p. 3. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
^ "Evening Post". The Evening Post. Vol. XII, no. 144. 16 December 1875. p. 2. Retrieved 31 March 2016.
^ "Election for Mayoralty". Auckland Star. Vol. VII, no. 2134. 11 December 1876. p. 3. Retrieved 31 March 2016.

Mayors of Wellington

Mayors

elected by councillors

elected at large

Mayoral elections

Annual term	1842 1874 1875 1876† 1877† 1878 1879‡ 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888† 1889† 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898† 1899 1901 1902† 1903† 1904 1905 1906† 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911† 1912 1913 1914
Biennial term	1915 1917† 1919 1921 1923 1925 1927 1929 1931 1933† 1935
Triennial term	1938 1941 1944 1947 1950 1953 1956 1959 1962 1965 1968 1971 1974 1977 1980 1983 1986 1989 1992 1995 1998 2001 2004 2007 2010 2013 2016 2019 2022

Local elections

† Elected unopposed
‡ By-election

This page was last edited on 8 June 2023, at 05:25

1875 Wellington City mayoral election

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Background

Election results

References