1963 Northern Maori by-election

The Northern Maori by-election of 1963 was a by-election for the electorate of Northern Maori on 16 March 1963 during the 33rd New Zealand Parliament. The by-election resulted from the death of the previous member Tapihana Paikea on 7 January 1963. It was held the same day as the Otahuhu by-election.
The by-election was won by Matiu Rata, also of the Labour Party. The by-election was contested by nine candidates, including James Henare who had stood for the National Party several times previously.

Background and candidates

Labour

There were multiple nominations for the Labour Party candidacy:

Grace Pitua Bidois, president of the Waitemata District Council of the Māori Women's Welfare League
Te Kaiaraiha Hui, of Whangārei
Dr. Manahi Nitama Paewai, a member of the Kaikohe Borough Council
Eru Moka Pou, a Ngāpuhi chief and National candidate in 1943
Brownie Pūriri, assistant controller of the Māori Welfare Department
Matiu Rata, union organiser and president of the Auckland Ratana Church Committee
Andrew Milton Rollo, member of the Mangonui County Council
Mira Szaszy, an Auckland broadcaster and Māori Women's Welfare League executive member
Joe Toia, of Ruawai
Rev. Paikea Henare Toka, a Māori Welfare Officer – uncle of Tapihana Paraire Paikea
Albert Victor Waetford, of Hamilton
George Webber, of Moerewa who was the Labour candidate for at the and at the

Rata was selected at a members hui. Pou and Toka both decided to stand as an independent Labour candidates after missing out on the official Labour candidacy.
National

There were two candidates for the National Party nomination:

George Russell Harrison, National's Northern Maori candidate at the
James Henare, National's Northern Maori candidate at the, and s

Henare, a farmer from Motatau in the Bay of Islands, was selected as National's candidate at a meeting at Otiria marae.
Social Credit

William Clarke, a dairy farmer from Kaitaia was selected by the Social Credit Party. He had stood in the seat for Social Credit at the previous election.
Others

Hohaia Tokowha Mokaraka, a Māori carving expert from Mount Eden stood as an independent candidate.
Hemi Kuit Peita, was nominated by the Kauhanganui movement.

Results

The following table gives the election results:
The by-election was the closest National has come to winning a Maori seat since 1943, although National's Auckland division did not appreciate the opportunity with a Henare descendant and support from Ngati Whatua, and gave little money and backing to their candidate; for which they were later criticised by the "more astute" South Auckland and Wellington Division leaders. Henare still got the largest swing to National in a by-election in the party's history, with Labour having only a 447-vote majority compared with 3,372 at the previous general election. And over the next 20 years, National's vote in the four Maori seats shrunk to about ten percent, similar to the Social Credit vote.