The by-election resulted from the death of the previous member Sir Eruera Tirikatene on 11 January 1967.

As Te Rino was part-Maori and entitled to choose between being on the Maori and European electoral rolls, at the time of the by-election he was registered on the European roll in Rangiora where he had to remain under the electoral act until the next general election, which made it unlikely he would be eligible as a candidate in Southern Maori.

With Te Rino effectively ruled out, attention turned to Tirikatene's daughter Whetu (who was studying in Australia at the time) as the likely Labour candidate for the seat.

[5] The Social Credit Party selected James Hugh MacDonald, a lineman from Blenheim as its candidate.

Leader of the Opposition Norman Kirk said he was encouraged by the result due to the swing to Labour being consistent across the electorate, which covered the area of 40 general seats, many of which were marginal.