The Goldfields Towns electorate was a 19th century parliamentary electorate in the Otago Region of New Zealand.
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The electorate existed from 1866 to 1870 for the term of the 4th New Zealand Parliament.[1]
The ten towns covered were Queenstown, Arrowtown, Cromwell, Clyde, Alexandra, Dunstan Creek, Roxburgh, Hamilton, Lawrence and Havelock.
The electorate was created because of the large influx of people to Otago during the Otago Gold Rush, and because the franchise had been extended to males aged 21 years and over who had held a miner’s right continuously for at least three (or six) months. No electoral rolls were established for these districts, and to vote a miner just presented his miner’s licence to the election official. Outside Otago where no special Goldfields electorate existed, miners could register as electors in the ordinary electoral district where they lived.
The electorate was represented by one MP.[2]
Election | Winner | |
1866 | James Benn Bradshaw[3] (Independent) |