Fifteen additional South Island electorates were created, including Mataura, and the number of Members of Parliament was increased by 13 to 70.
[2] It covered the area around Invercargill (which had its own urban electorate) and settlements included Bluff, Winton, Gore, Mataura, and Edendale.
[5] Woods resignation caused the 1879 by-election, which was won by James Shanks; he retired at the end of the parliamentary term in 1881.
[8] In 1898, Richardson was declared bankrupt,[9] and the resulting 1898 by-election was won by McNab, who served until he was defeated again in the 1908 election.
[10] The electorate was represented by nine Members of Parliament:[11] Key Independent Conservative Liberal Reform United National