| Terms of the Parliament of New Zealand |
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th 6th | 7th | 8th | 9th | 10th 11th | 12th | 13th | 14th | 15th 16th | 17th | 18th | 19th | 20th 21st | 22nd | 23rd | 24th | 25th 26th | 27th | 28th | 29th | 30th 31st | 32nd | 33rd | 34th | 35th 36th | 37th | 38th | 39th | 40th 41st | 42nd | 43rd | 44th | 45th 46th | 47th | 48th | 49th | 50th |
The 25th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand. It opened on 25 March 1936, following the 1935 election. It was dissolved on 16 September 1938 in preparation for the 1938 election.
The 25th Parliament was notable in that it was the first time the Labour Party had a parliamentary majority and formed a government, the First Labour Government. The new Prime Minister was Michael Joseph Savage. The opposition consisted of the United Party and the Reform Party, which merged to form the National Party in 1936.
The 25th Parliament consisted of eighty representatives, each elected from separate geographical electorates. As the 1935 elections had been a landslide victory for the Labour Party, the 25th Parliament was dominated by Labour MPs — 53 of the 80 were members of the Labour Party. The main opposition consisted of a coalition of the Reform Party, the United Party, and three independents, having a total of 19 MPs. Part way through the 25th Parliament, Reform and United took their coalition to the next step, and merged into a single group. This was called the National Party. The smaller Country Party and Rātana movement had two MPs each, and there were four independents not aligned with the coalition. The Democrat Party, despite winning a significant portion of the vote, did not hold any seats.
Contents |
The 24th Parliament had been led by a coalition of the Reform Party and the United Party, formed in September 1931 during the term of the 23rd Parliament and led by George William Forbes.[1] The primary opposition had been the Labour Party.
At the 1935 election, the Labour Party obtained a parliamentary majority and formed a government, the First Labour Government. The leader of the Labour Party, Michael Joseph Savage, became Prime Minister.[2] The opposition consisted of the United Party and the Reform Party, which merged in 1936 during the term of the 25th Parliament to form the National Party. The Savage Ministry was in power until Savage's death on 27 March 1940.[3]
| Party | Leader(s) | Seats at start | |
| Labour Party | Michael Joseph Savage | 53 | |
| Reform Party | Gordon Coates | 9 | |
| United Party | George Forbes | 7 | |
| Country Party | Harold Rushworth | 2 | |
| Ratana | Eruera Tirikatene | 2 | |
| Independents | 7 | ||
| Name | Party | Electorate | Term | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Anderton, Bill | Labour | Eden | First | |
| Armstrong, Tim | Labour | Christchurch East | Fifth | |
| Atmore, Harry | Independent | Nelson | Seventh | |
| Barclay, James | Labour | Marsden | First | |
| Barnard, Bill | Labour | Napier | Third | |
| Barnes, David | Labour | Waitaki | First | |
| Barrell, Charles | Labour | Hamilton | First | |
| Bodkin, William | United | Central Otago | Third | |
| Broadfoot, Walter | United | Waitomo | Third | |
| Burnett, Charles | Labour | Tauranga | First | |
| Burnett, Thomas | Reform | Temuka | Sixth | |
| Campbell, Archibald | Labour | Chalmers | First | |
| Carr, Clyde | Labour | Timaru | Third | |
| Chapman, Charles | Labour | Wellington North | Third | |
| Christie, Hubert | Labour | Waipawa | First | |
| Coates, Gordon | Reform | Kaipara | Eighth | |
| Cobbe, John | United | Oroua | Third | |
| Coleman, David | Labour | Gisborne | Second | |
| Cotterill, Joseph | Labour | Wanganui | First | |
| Coulter, Robert | Labour | Waikato | First | |
| Cullen, Edward | Labour | Hawkes Bay | First | |
| Denham, William | Labour | Invercargill | First | |
| Dickie, Harold | Reform | Patea | Fourth | |
| Endean, William | Reform | Parnell | Third | |
| Forbes, George | United | Hurunui | Ninth | |
| Fraser, Peter | Labour | Wellington Central | Seventh | |
| Hamilton, Adam | Reform | Wallace | Fifth | |
| Hargest, James | Independent* | Awarua | Second | |
| Henare, Taurekareka | Reform | Northern Maori | Seventh | |
| Herring, Horace | Labour | Mid-Canterbury | First | |
| Hodgens, Joseph | Labour | Palmerston | First | |
| Holland, Sidney | Reform | Christchurch North | First | |
| Holyoake, Keith | Reform | Motueka | Second | |
| Howard, Ted | Labour | Christchurch South | Sixth | |
| Hultquist, Gordon | Labour | Bay of Plenty | First | |
| Hunter, Clifford | Labour | Manawatu | First | |
| Jones, Fred | Labour | Dunedin South | Second | |
| Jordan, William | Labour | Manukau | Fifth | |
| Kyle, Herbert | Reform | Riccarton | Fourth | |
| Langstone, Frank | Labour | Waimarino | Fourth | |
| Lee, John A. | Labour | Grey Lynn | Fourth | |
| Lowry, Leonard | Labour | Otaki | First | |
| Lyon, Jack | Labour | Waitemata | First | |
| Martin, William Lee | Labour | Raglan | Third | |
| Mason, Rex | Labour | Auckland Suburbs | Fourth | |
| McCombs, Terry | Labour | Lyttelton | Second | |
| McDougall, David | Independent | Mataura | Third | |
| McKeen, Robert | Labour | Wellington South | Fifth | |
| McMillan, Gervan | Labour | Dunedin West | First | |
| Meachen, Edwin | Labour | Wairau | First | |
| Moncur, Alexander | Labour | Rotorua | First | |
| Munro, James Wright | Labour | Dunedin North | Fifth | |
| Nash, Walter | Labour | Hutt | Third | |
| Neilson, Peter | Labour | Dunedin Central | First | |
| Ngata, Apirana | United | Eastern Maori | Tenth | |
| Nordmeyer, Arnold | Labour | Oamaru | First | |
| O'Brien, James | Labour | Westland | Fourth | |
| Parry, William | Labour | Auckland Central | Sixth | |
| Petrie, Charles | Labour | Hauraki | First | |
| Polson, William | Independent* | Stratford | Third | |
| Ransom, Ethelbert | United | Pahiatua | Fifth | |
| Ratana, Toko | Ratana | Western Maori | First | |
| Richards, Arthur | Labour | Roskill | Second | |
| Roberts, Benjamin | Labour | Wairarapa | First | |
| Robertson, John | Labour | Masterton | Second | |
| Roy, James | Independent* | Clutha | First | |
| Rushworth, Harold | Country | Bay of Islands | Fourth | |
| Savage, Michael Joseph | Labour | Auckland West | Sixth | |
| Schramm, Frederick | Labour | Auckland East | Second | |
| Semple, Bob | Labour | Wellington East | Fourth | |
| Sexton, Arthur | Country | Franklin | First | |
| Smith, Sydney | United | New Plymouth | Sixth | |
| Sullivan, Daniel | Labour | Avon | Sixth | |
| Thorn, Jim | Labour | Thames | First | |
| Tirikatene, Eruera | Ratana | Southern Maori | Second | |
| Webb, Paddy | Labour | Buller | Fifth | |
| Wilkinson, Charles | Independent | Egmont | Fifth | |
| Williams, Morgan | Labour | Kaiapoi | First | |
| Wilson, Ormond | Labour | Rangitikei | First | |
| Wright, Robert | Independent | Wellington Suburbs | Eighth |
* Three MPs (Hargest, Polson, and Roy) were aligned with the United-Reform coalition, but do not appear to have been members of either United or Reform.
| Name | Party | Electorate | Term | |
| Osborne, Arthur | Labour | Manukau | First |