A by-election for the seat of Hartley in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly was held on 14 August 1894 because Joseph Cook had been appointed Postmaster General in the Reid ministry.
[1][2] Such ministerial by-elections were usually uncontested and four ministers were re-elected unopposed, James Brunker (East Maitland), Joseph Carruthers (St George), Jacob Garrard (Sherbrooke) and James Young (The Manning).
A poll was required in Bathurst (Sydney Smith), Hartley, Singleton (Albert Gould) and Sydney-King (George Reid) however all were comfortably re-elected.
The party decided that members must sign a "pledge" to be bound by decisions of the Caucus and Cook was the leader of those parliamentarians who refused to sign,[4] contesting the 1894 election as an Independent Labour candidate.
[5] Cook's decision, immediately after the election, to join the Free Trade ministry under George Reid was seen as an opportunistic act which saw Cook labeled as a class traitor.