Elections for this term were held in 4 Māori electorates and 91 general electorates on 8 and 9 December 1881, respectively. A total of 95 MPs were elected, i.e. multi-member electorates were no longer used. Parliament was prorogued in June 1884. During the term of this Parliament, three Ministries were in power.
Sessions
The 8th Parliament opened on 18 May 1882, following the 1881 general election. It sat for three sessions, and was prorogued on 27 June 1884.[1]
Session
Opened
Adjourned
first
18 May 1882
15 September 1882
second
14 June 1883
8 September 1883
third
5 June 1884
24 June 1884
Historical context
Portraits depicting members of the 1882 House of Representatives.
Political parties had not been established yet; this only happened after the 1890 election. Anyone attempting to form an administration thus had to win support directly from individual MPs. This made first forming, and then retaining a government difficult and challenging.[2]
These changes necessitated a major disruption to existing boundaries. Only six electorates remained unchanged: Waikato, Waipa, Bruce, Lyttelton, Nelson, and Picton.[6]
Initial composition of the 8th Parliament
95 seats were created across the electorates.[7]
The following table shows the successful candidate for each electorate.[8]