Mid-Canterbury (New Zealand electorate)

Mid-Canterbury was a New Zealand parliamentary electorate in rural Canterbury. It existed from 1928 to 1946 and was represented by six Members of Parliament, including Mary Grigg, the first woman National Party MP.

Population centres
In the 1927 electoral redistribution, the North Island gained a further electorate from the South Island due to fast population growth. Five electorates were abolished, two former electorates were re-established, and three electorates, including Mid-Canterbury, were created for the first time. These changes came into effect with the.

History
The electorate existed from 1928 to 1946. David Jones was the first representative, winning the by a wafer-thin majority of 55 votes (0.59%) against Jeremiah Connolly; he had previously held  and. Jones was defeated by Connolly in the. Connolly died on 2 October 1935 and as this was only weeks prior to the, the seat remained vacant and no by-election was called.

Horace Herring of the Labour Party won the 1935 election. At the next election in, Herring was narrowly beaten by Arthur Grigg of the National Party. Grigg enlisted in the NZEF as a Major in World War II, and was killed in action in Libya on 29 November 1941. He was succeeded by his widow Mary Grigg at a 1942 by-election; she became the first woman National MP. But in June 1943 she remarried, to another National MP, William Polson, and resigned.

Mary Grigg was succeeded by Geoff Gerard at the 1943 general election. He served until the end of the term in when the electorate was abolished, and successfully stood in the  electorate instead.

Members of Parliament
Key