25th New Zealand Parliament

The 25th New Zealand Parliament was a term of the Parliament of New Zealand. It opened on 25 March 1936, following the 1935 election. It was dissolved on 16 September 1938 in preparation for 1938 election.

The 25th Parliament was notable in that it was the first time the Labour Party had a parliamentary majority and formed a government. The new Prime Minister was Michael Joseph Savage. The opposition consisted of the United Party and the Reform Party, which merged to form the National Party in 1936.

The 25th Parliament consisted of eighty representatives, each elected from separate geographical electorates. As the 1935 elections had been a landslide victory for the Labour Party, the 25th Parliament was dominated by Labour MPs — 53 of the 80 were members of the Labour Party. The main opposition consisted of a coalition of the Reform Party and the United Party, which together had 19 MPs. Part way through the 25th Parliament, Reform and United took their coalition to the next step, and merged into a single group. This was called the National Party. The smaller Country Party and Ratana movement had two MPs each, and there were four independents. The Democrat Party, despite winning a significant portion of the vote, did not hold any seats.

Electoral boundaries for the 25th Parliament

Initial composition of the 25th Parliament

Member	Party	Electorate	MP's term
Anderton, Bill	Labour	Eden	First
Armstrong, Hubert	Labour	Christchurch East	Fifth
Atmore, Harry	Independent	Nelson	Seventh
Barclay, James	Labour	Marsden	First
Barnard, Bill	Labour	Napier	Third
Barnes, David	Labour	Waitaki	First
Barrell, Charles	Labour	Hamilton	First
Bodkin, William	United	Central Otago	Third
Broadfoot, Walter	United	Waitomo	Third
Burnett, Charles	Labour	Tauranga	First
Burnett, Thomas	Reform	Temuka	Sixth
Campbell, Archibald	Labour	Chalmers	First
Carr, Clyde	Labour	Timaru	Third
Chapman, Charles	Labour	Wellington North	Third
Christie, Hubert	Labour	Waipawa	First
Coates, Gordon	Reform	Kaipara	Eighth
Cobbe, John	United	Oroua	Third
Coleman, David	Labour	Gisborne	Second
Cotterill, Joseph	Labour	Wanganui	First
Coulter, Robert	Labour	Waikato	First
Cullen, Edward	Labour	Hawkes Bay	First
Denham, William	Labour	Invercargill	First
Dickie, Harold	Reform	Patea	Fourth
Endean, William	Reform	Parnell	Third
Forbes, George	United	Hurunui	Ninth
Fraser, Peter	Labour	Wellington Central	Seventh
Hamilton, Adam	Reform	Wallace	Fifth
Hargest, James	Independent	Awarua	Second
Henare, Taurekareka	Reform	Northern Maori	Seventh
Herring, Horace	Labour	Mid-Canterbury	First
Hodgens, Joseph	Labour	Palmerston	First
Holland, Sidney	Reform	Christchurch North	First
Holyoake, Keith	Reform	Motueka	Second
Howard, Edwin	Labour	Christchurch South	Sixth
Hultquist, Gordon	Labour	Bay of Plenty	First
Hunter, Clifford	Labour	Manawatu	First
Jones, Frederick	Labour	Dunedin South	Second
Jordan, William	Labour	Manukau	Fifth
Kyle, Herbert	Reform	Riccarton	Fourth
Langstone, Frank	Labour	Waimarino	Fourth
Lee, John A.	Labour	Grey Lynn	Fourth
Lowry, Leonard	Labour	Otaki	First
Lyon, Jack	Labour	Waitemata	First
Martin, William	Labour	Raglan	Third
Mason, Rex	Labour	Auckland Suburbs	Fourth
McCombs, Terry	Labour	Lyttelton	Second
McDougal, David	Independent	Mataura	Third
McKeen, Robert	Labour	Wellington South	Fifth
McMillan, Gervan	Labour	Dunedin West	First
Meachen, Edwin	Labour	Wairau	First
Moncur, Alexander	Labour	Rotorua	First
Munro, James	Labour	Dunedin North	Fifth
Nash, Walter	Labour	Hutt	Third
Neilson, Peter	Labour	Dunedin Central	First
Ngata, Apirana	United	Eastern Maori	Tenth
Nordmeyer, Arnold	Labour	Oamaru	First
O'Brien, James	Labour	Westland	Fourth
Parry, William	Labour	Auckland Central	Sixth
Petrie, Charles	Labour	Hauraki	First
Polson, William	Unk. Coalition	Stratford	Third
Ethelbert Ransom	United	Pahiatua	Fifth
Ratana, Toko	Ratana	Western Maori	First
Richards, Arthur	Labour	Roskill	Second
Roberts, Benjamin	Labour	Wairarapa	First
Robertson, John	Labour	Masterton	Second
Roy, James	Unk. Coalition	Clutha	First
Rushworth, Harold	Country	Bay of Islands	Fourth
Savage, Michael Joseph	Labour	Auckland West	Sixth
Schramm, Frederick	Labour	Auckland East	Second
Semple, Bob	Labour	Wellington East	Fourth
Sexton, Arthur	Country	Franklin	First
Smith, Sydney	United	New Plymouth	Sixth
Sullivan, Daniel	Labour	Avon	Sixth
Thorn, James	Labour	Thames	First
Tirikatene, Eruera	Ratana	Southern Maori	Second
Webb, Paddy	Labour	Buller	Fifth
Wilkinson, Charles	Independent	Egmont	Fifth
Williams, Charles	Labour	Kaiapoi	First
Wilson, Ormond	Labour	Rangitikei	First
Wright, Robert	Reform	Wellington Suburbs	Eighth

Changes during term

• William Jordan, the Labour MP for Manukau, resigned in 1936. He was replaced by Arthur Osborne, also of the Labour Party.