Battle of Backbone Mountain

The Southern Maori by-election of 1932 was a by-election during the 24th New Zealand Parliament. The election was held on 3 August 1932.

The seat of Southern Maori became vacant following the death of the sitting member Tuiti Makitanara.

Six candidates contested the seat, which was won by Eruera Tirikatene.^[1]^[2] This was the first seat ever won by the Ratana party.

Results

The following table gives the election results:

1932 Southern Maori by-election^[2]
Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Ratana	Eruera Tirikatene	425	44.69	+10.34
	United/Reform	William Teihoka Parata	184	19.35
	Independent	Peter McDonald	132	13.88
	Independent	Joseph Beaton (United–Reform Coalition)	113	11.88
	Independent	Tame Bragg (Reform)	94	9.88
	Independent	Wiremu Mihaka	3	0.32
Majority			241	25.34	+23.27
Turnout			951

Tirikatene stayed in parliament until his death in 1967. He eventually joined the Labour Party after they merged with Ratana.

^ "Maori By-Election". Evening Post. Vol. CXIV, no. 30. 4 August 1932. p. 12. Retrieved 17 November 2011.
^ ^a ^b The General Election, 1931. Government Printer. 1932. p. 6. Retrieved 25 December 2014.

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