1890 Timaru by-election

New Zealand by-election

18 August 1890 (1890-08-18)

Turnout

868 (67.28%)


Candidate	William Hall-Jones	Edward G. Kerr
Party	Independent Liberal	Independent
Popular vote	422	344
Percentage	48.61	39.63

Member before election

Richard Turnbull
Independent

Elected Member

William Hall-Jones
Independent Liberal

The 1890 Timaru by-election was a by-election held on 18 August 1890 during the 10th New Zealand Parliament in the seat of Timaru, a partly urban seat in Canterbury on the East Coast of the South Island.

Background

The by-election was triggered because of the death of sitting member of parliament Richard Turnbull.^[1] The election saw William Hall-Jones win the seat over his main opponent, Edward George Kerr.

Kerr had contested the 1887 election against Turnbull,^[2] and was the proprietor of The Timaru Herald. Former Prime Minister Sir Robert Stout was invited to contest the seat, but he declined.^[3] William Hall-Jones had initially refused nomination citing crucial upcoming business interests. However, several locals persisted and Hall-Jones eventually accepted.^[1] Jeremiah Twomey, a newspaper proprietor and owner of the Temuka Leader and Geraldine Guardian also announced his candidacy, but later retired from the race before nominations closed.^[4]

Hall-Jones, Kerr and W F Alpin were nominated, and after a show of hands went in favour of Hall-Jones a poll was demanded by the supporters of Kerr and Alpin.^[5]

Results

The following table gives the election results:

1890 Timaru by-election^[6]^[5]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Independent Liberal	William Hall-Jones	422	48.61
	Independent	Edward G. Kerr	344	39.63	-0.58
	Independent Labour	W F Alpin	88	10.13
Informal votes			14	1.61
Majority			78	8.98
Turnout			868	67.28	-0.27

Notes

^ ^a ^b Hall-Jones 1969, p. 24.
^ "The Nominations". Ashburton Guardian. Vol. VII, no. 1667. 20 September 1887. p. 3. Retrieved 19 May 2012.
^ "Late Telegrams". Mount Ida Chronicle. Vol. XXI, no. 1077. 26 July 1890. p. 1 (Supplement).
^ "The Timaru Seat". Poverty Bay Herald. Vol. XVII, no. 5842. 12 August 1890. p. 3.
^ ^a ^b "The Timaru Seat". The Star. No. 6929. 12 August 1890. p. 3. Retrieved 14 April 2017.
^ "The Timaru Seat - Result of the Election". The Press. Vol. XLVII, no. 7634. 19 August 1890. p. 5.