1920 Bruce by-election

1920 Bruce by-election
Turnout	4,734 (63.92%)
MP before election; James Allen; Reform	Elected MP ; John Edie; Liberal

The Bruce by-election of 1920 was a by-election held on 14 April 1920 during the 20th New Zealand Parliament in the rural lower South Island electorate of the Bruce.

Background[edit]

The contest was triggered due to the resignation from Parliament of James Allen, who took up the position of New Zealand's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom.^[1] The Liberal Party's chosen candidate was John Edie. He had contested the Bruce electorate in the 1919 election against James Allen and was beaten by the mere margin of 126 votes (only 2.15%).^[2]

The following table gives the election results:

1920 Bruce by-election^[3]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Liberal	John Edie	2,421	51.14	+2.22
	Reform	James Begg	2,297	48.52
Informal votes			16	0.33	-0.87
Majority			124	2.61
Turnout			4,734	63.92	-16.28
Registered electors			7,406

The Bruce electorate was abolished for the 1922 general election. Edie won the Clutha electorate, holding it until 1925.^[4]

^ McGibbon, Ian. "Allen, James". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 21 April 2016.
^ The New Zealand Official Year-Book. Government Printer. 1920. Archived from the original on 1 September 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
^ "The Bruce Election". The Southland Times. No. 18805. 26 April 1920. p. 6. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
^ Wilson 1985, pp. 194, 242.

Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.

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18th Parliament	1912 Egmont 1913 Grey 1913 Lyttelton
19th Parliament	1915 Dunedin Central 1915 Bay of Islands 1915 Taumarunui 1916 Pahiatua 1917 Hawkes Bay 1917 Bay of Islands 1917 Grey 1918 Wellington North 1918 Southern Maori 1918 Grey 1918 Wellington Central 1918 Taranaki 1918 Palmerston 1918 Wellington South
20th Parliament	1920 Bruce 1920 Stratford 1920 Bay of Plenty 1912 Patea 1921 Auckland East 1922 Southern Maori 1922 Dunedin North
21st Parliament	1923 Tauranga 1923 Oamaru 1925 Franklin
22nd Parliament	1926 Eden 1927 Raglan
23rd Parliament	1929 Bay of Islands 1929 Hutt 1930 Parnell 1930 Invercargill 1930 Waipawa 1930 Western Maori 1931 Hauraki
24th Parliament	1932 Southern Maori 1932 Motueka 1933 Lyttelton 1933 Buller 1935 Lyttelton
25th Parliament	1936 Manukau