Buller (New Zealand electorate)
Buller is a former New Zealand parliamentary electorate, from 1871 to 1972. It was represented by eleven Members of Parliament.

Population centres
The 1870 electoral redistribution was undertaken by a parliamentary select committee based on population data from the 1867 New Zealand census. Eight sub-committees were formed, with two members each making decisions for their own province; thus members set their own electorate boundaries. The number of electorates was increased from 61 to 72, and Buller was one of the new electorates. The Buller electorate was created from areas that previously belonged to the  and  electorates. Settlements located in the initial electorate area were Westport, Inangahua Junction, and Reefton. For the , polling booths were in Westport, Charleston, Brighton, Addison's, Waimangaroa, Inangahua Junction, Lyell, and Karamea.

History
The electorate's first representative was Eugene O'Conor, who was successful in the , but he was defeated at the next election in 1876 by Joseph Henry. Henry in turn was defeated by James Bickerton Fisher at the . Fisher retired at the end of the parliamentary term in 1881.

Fisher was succeeded by John Munro, who won the . Munro was defeated at the next election in  by Eugene O'Conor, who thus started his second period of representation. O'Conor, who joined the Liberal Party, was beaten in  by Roderick McKenzie. In the , McKenzie successfully stood in the  electorate.

Patrick O'Regan won the 1896 election in the Buller electorate. At the , he was defeated by James Colvin, who held the electorate until his death in 1919.

From 1919 the Buller electorate was represented by two radical trade unionists from the coal mines of the West Coast, Harry Holland and Paddy Webb. Harry Holland and then Jerry Skinner died in office.

In 1972, the electorate was split into the West Coast and Tasman electorates.

Members of Parliament
The Buller electorate was represented by eleven MPs:

Key

Election results

1969 election

1966 election

1963 election

1962 by-election

1960 election

1957 election

1954 election

1951 election

1949 election

1946 election

1933 by-election

1931 election

1928 election

1925 election

1922 election

1919 election

1914 election

1899 election

1893 election

1879 election

Notes

References

Historical electorates of New Zealand
1870 establishments in New Zealand
1972 disestablishments in New Zealand
Politics of the West Coast, New Zealand