17th General Assembly of Newfoundland

The members of the 17th General Assembly of Newfoundland were elected in the Newfoundland general election held in November 1893. The general assembly sat from 1894 to 1897.
The Liberal Party led by William Whiteway formed the government. The Tory Party filed petitions against 15 Liberals including Whiteway and James Murray, an independent, alleging corrupt practices during the election; the results of those elections were set aside. The Tory Party temporarily held the majority and formed a government led by Augustus F. Goodridge in 1894. Following the by-elections, the Liberals regained the majority and formed a government led by Daniel J. Greene. After Whiteway won re-election in a by-election, he became Premier again.
George [Henry Emerson (speaker)|George Emerson] was chosen as speaker.
Sir Terence O'Brien served as List of [lieutenant governors of Newfoundland and Labrador#Colonial Governors of Newfoundland, 1855–1907|colonial governor of Newfoundland] until 1895, when he was replaced by Sir Herbert Harley Murray.
On December 8, 1894, London banks suspended credit to the Commercial Bank of Newfoundland and requested payment on some of its loans. The bank was unable to meet these obligations and requested its merchant customers to repay their loans; the merchants, themselves financially strapped, were unable to comply. On October 10, known as Black Monday, the Commercial Bank closed. This caused a run by customers on the two remaining banks, the Union Bank of Newfoundland and the Savings Bank of Newfoundland. The Savings Bank was able to cash a large cheque at the Union Bank, but the Union Bank was subsequently forced to close. Neither of the two closed banks would ever reopen. This resulted in the devaluation of Newfoundland's currency, the shutdown of many businesses and widespread unemployment in the colony. Early in 1895, banks from Canada opened branches in Newfoundland to fill the void. The value of the Newfoundland dollar was set to the same value as the Canadian dollar.

Members of the Assembly

The following members were elected to the assembly in 1893:

	Member	Electoral district	Affiliation	First elected / previously elected
Henry J. B. Woods	Bay de Verde	Liberal	1889	-
George E. Moores	Bay de Verde	Liberal	1893	-
Sydney Woods	Bay de Verde	Liberal	1894	-
John B. Ayre	Bay de Verde	Tory	1894	-
Donald Morison	Bonavista	Tory	1888	-
Alfred B. Morine	Bonavista	Tory	1886	-
Samuel Blandford	Bonavista	Tory	1889	-
James Murray	Burgeo-La Poile	Independent	1889	-
Henry Y. Mott	Burgeo-La Poile	Tory	1894	-
Dr. James S. Tait	Burin	Liberal	1889	-
William B. Payne	Burin	Liberal	1893	-
James J. Pitman	Burin	Liberal	1894	-
Henry Gear	Burin	Liberal	1894	-
William Duff	Carbonear	Liberal	1889	-
Michael P. Cashin	Ferryland	Liberal	1893	-
Daniel J. Greene	Ferryland	Liberal	1878	-
Thomas C. Duder	Fogo	Tory	1893	-
James O. Fraser, Jr.	Fortune Bay	Tory	1893	-
Henry Dawe	Harbour Grace	Tory	1893	-
Robert S. Munn	Harbour Grace	Tory	1889	-
Eli Dawe	Harbour Grace	Liberal	1889	-
William Whiteway	Harbour Grace	Liberal	1859, 1873, 1889, 1895	-
Frank J. Morris	Harbour Main	Liberal	1889	-
William Woodford	Harbour Main	Liberal	1889	-
James McGrath	Placentia and St. Mary's	Liberal	1889	-
George Emerson	Placentia and St. Mary's	Liberal	1885	-
Richard T. McGrath	Placentia and St. Mary's	Liberal	1894	-
Michael Tobin	Placentia and St. Mary's	Liberal	1882, 1894	-
William J. S. Donnelly	Placentia and St. Mary's	Tory	1878, 1893	-
John T. Dunphy	Placentia and St. Mary's	Liberal	1894	-
Charles Dawe	Port de Grave	Tory	1878, 1893	-
Alexander A. Parsons	St. Barbe	Liberal	1893	-
James W. Keating	St. George's	Liberal	1893	-
Michael H. Carty	St. George's	Liberal	1882, 1894	-
James Patrick Fox	St. John's East	Liberal	1893	-
Thomas J. Murphy	St. John's East	Liberal	1886	-
John P. Fox	St. John's East	Liberal	1894	-
Charles Hutton	St. John's East	Liberal	1894	-
Lawrence O'Brien Furlong	St. John's East	Tory	1893	-
Edward Morris	St. John's West	Liberal	1885	-
James C. Tessier	St. John's West	Liberal	1893	-
Maurice W. Furley	St. John's West	Liberal	1893	-
Patrick J. Scott	St. John's West	Liberal	1873, 1894	-
G. J. Tessier	St. John's West	Liberal	1894	-
Thomas P. Jackman	St. John's West	Liberal	1894	-
William Whiteway	Trinity	Liberal	1859, 1873, 1889	-
Robert Bond	Trinity	Liberal	1882	-
James H. Watson	Trinity	Liberal	1874, 1893	-
William H. Horwood	Trinity	Liberal	1894	-
George W. Gushue	Trinity	Liberal	1894	-
George M. Johnson	Trinity	Liberal	1894	-
Jabez P. Thompson	Twillingate	Liberal	1889	-
Robert Bond	Twillingate	Liberal	1882	-
Gilles Foote	Twillingate	Liberal	1894	-
Augustus F. Goodridge	Twillingate	Tory	1880, 1893	-
Michael T. Knight	Twillingate	Tory	1885, 1893	-

By-elections

By-elections were held to replace members for various reasons:

Electoral district	Member elected	Affiliation	Election date	Reason
Bay de Verde	Sydney Woods	Liberal	May 22, 1894	Results of 1893 election set aside
Bay de Verde	John B. Ayre	Tory	May 22, 1894	Results of 1893 election set aside
Burgeo-La Poile	Henry Y. Mott	Tory	September 10, 1894	Results of 1893 election set aside
Bonavista	Donald Morison	Tory	October 2, 1894	D Morrison named to cabinet; required to run for reelection
Bonavista	Alfred B. Morine	Tory	October 2, 1894	A B Morine named to cabinet; required to run for reelection
Fogo	Thomas C. Duder	Tory	October 2, 1894	T C Duder named to cabinet; required to run for reelection
Trinity	William H. Horwood	Liberal	October 16, 1894	Results of 1893 election set aside
Trinity	George W. Gushue	Liberal	October 16, 1894	Results of 1893 election set aside
Trinity	George M. Johnson	Liberal	October 16, 1894	Results of 1893 election set aside
Twillingate	Giles Foote	Liberal	October 16, 1894	M T Knight named to cabinet; required to run for reelection
Burin	James J. Pitman	Liberal	November 10, 1894	Results of 1893 election set aside
Burin	Henry Gear	Liberal	November 10, 1894	Results of 1893 election set aside
Placentia and St. Mary's	Richard T. McGrath	Liberal	November 10, 1894	Results of 1893 election set aside
Placentia and St. Mary's	Michael Tobin	Liberal	November 10, 1894	Results of 1893 election set aside
Placentia and St. Mary's	John T. Dunphy	Liberal	November 10, 1894	WJS Donnelly named to cabinet; required to run for reelection
St. John's East	John P. Fox	Liberal	November 10, 1894	Results of 1893 election set aside
St. John's East	Charles Hutton	Liberal	November 10, 1894	Results of 1893 election set aside
St. John's West	Patrick J. Scott	Liberal	November 10, 1894	Results of 1893 election set aside
St. John's West	G. J. Tessier	Liberal	November 10, 1894	Results of 1893 election set aside
St. John's West	Thomas P. Jackman	Liberal	November 10, 1894	Results of 1893 election set aside
St. George's	Michael H. Carty	Liberal	November 12, 1894	Results of 1893 election set aside
Bay de Verde	Henry J. B. Woods	Liberal	February 27, 1895	S Woods resigned seat
Harbour Grace	William Whiteway	Liberal	February 27, 1895	R S Munn died December 17, 1894
Harbour Grace	Eli Dawe	Liberal	February 27, 1895	E Dawe named to cabinet; required to run for reelection
St. John's West	Patrick J. Scott	Liberal	February 27, 1895	P J Scott named to cabinet; required to run for reelection
St. John's West	Edward Patrick Morris	Liberal	February 27, 1895	G J Tessier resigned seat
Twillingate	Robert Bond	Liberal	September 16, 1895	JP Thompson resigned seat