predecessor parliament successor birth_place constituency_mp death_date death_place birth_date term_start article_title term_end name
john white new zealand new zealand robert reid richard seddon kent , england westland south hokitika 29 june 1882 kumara , new zealand 5 march 1833 6 april 1868 14 january 1876 edmund barff
 30 december 1870 15 august 1879 edmund barff
edmund barff

edmund barff -lrb- 5 march 1833 -- 29 june 1882 -rrb- was a 19th-century member of parliament from the west coast , new zealand .
barff was born in the english county of kent on 5 march 1833 , probably at lee -lrb- now part of greater london -rrb- , where he was baptised five months later .
he first came to new zealand to join the west coast gold rush in the mid-1860s .
the west coast was initially part of the canterbury province and following a requisition in october 1865 , he was first elected as the member of the west coast goldfields electorate in the following month .
barff and evan prosser , who was elected at the same time , were the first members from the west coast on the canterbury provincial council .
in july 1866 , barff became a member for the westland electorate .
he remained a member of the canterbury provincial council until december 1867 .
the westland district separated from the canterbury province on 1 january 1868 , and barff joined the westland county , which was the predecessor to westland province .
during the existence of westland county -lrb- january 1868 -- november 1873 -rrb- , barff represented the ridings of westland , okarito , and arahura .
he did not join the westland provincial council , but stood for the first election in january 1874 as one of three candidates in the two-member arahura electorate -lrb- incorrectly referred to as ` waimea ' in some sources -rrb- .
much to his surprise , he was defeated with 120 votes by richard seddon and houlahan , who were equal at 145 votes .
he represented the westland south electorate in the house of representatives from 1868 to 1870 , when he was defeated for hokitika by john white .
he then represented the hokitika electorate from 1876 to 1879 , when he was again defeated .
barff died in kumara in 1882 ; he had never married .
