Talk:Dunedin East

Establishment year for Dunedin East

There's been some confusion about the establishment year for this electorate. This has been discussed on an editor's talk page and on an article talk page. Here's a synopsis and my findings:

• Scholefield, Guy (1925) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record (3rd ed.). Wellington: Govt. Printer. p. 137. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help) lists Robert Stout as having represented the City of Dunedin electorate in 1875–79 (resigned on 23 June 1879) in the entry for his name. There is no list of members by electorate in that edition.
• Scholefield, Guy (1950) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 (3rd ed.). Wellington: Govt. Printer. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help) lists Stout as having represented Dunedin East in 1875–79 (page 157) and the entry for his name (page 141; same resignation date).
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103. {{cite book}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help) also shows Stout as Dunedin East (page 262 is visible in Google books).
• For Dec 1875 to Jan 1876, searching for "Dunedin East" or "Dunedin City East" returns nil results in Papers Past.
• Stout was nominated for Dunedin together with the other winners for that electorate, which can be seen in the Evening Post, Grey River Argus, Thames Star and other newspapers. The election was held on Monday, 20 December 1875.
• The results for Dunedin were reported in many newspapers and align with the list of candidates from the nomination, e.g. North Otago Times, Thames Star and Evening Post. Stout is reported to have won in the three-member City of Dunedin electorate.
• And here is one of many examples, this from the North Otago Times, of a results list.
• Stout resigned on 23 June 1875 and William Downie Stewart Sr was elected in his place. Searching Papers Past with the search words "stewart dunedin election" returns 49 results.
• Adding "east" to the previous search term returns 2 results, but again no mention of an electorate called Dunedin East.
• Downie Stewart succeeded Stout, and Stewart is in all versions of the New Zealand Parliamentary Record recorded as having represented City of Dunedin.

I conclude that the Dunedin East electorate did not exist in 1875 for the general election, or in 1879 for the by-election. Sometime between 1925 and 1950, an error has crept into the official government publication, the New Zealand Parliamentary Record. Robert Stout was elected for City of Dunedin in 1875, and not for Dunedin East. Schwede66 08:55, 1 August 2010 (UTC)