General elections in Taranaki, 1879 - 1884

Abstract

This thesis attempts to analyse the structure of politics within Taranaki in the late eighteen-seventies and early eighties. Two reasons prompted me to work in this field. In the first place, I was interested by the work of honours students of the History Department of the University of Canterbury who, between 1959 and 1964, analysed the elections from 1879 to 1887 in Canterbury and, in so doing, cast new light on a period until then largely ignored in New Zealand's history. I felt that a study of the same elections in Taranaki, then poor and struggling in contrast to the wealth and development of Canterbury, might indicate the extent to which their conclusions were of more general application. Such a study, whether its findings were along 'Canterbury' lines or not, I hoped might be of service to those seeking to draw conclusions on what constituted the political realities for voters in colonial elections in New Zealand in the eighteen eighties.