The 1917 Hawkes Bay by-election was a by-election held in the eastern North Island electorate of Hawkes Bay during the 19th New Zealand Parliament, on 8 March 1917.

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1917 Hawkes Bay by-election

← 1914 general 8 March 1917 1919 general →
Turnout	4,858 (48.82%)
Candidate Sir John Findlay H. Ian Simson Party Liberal Liberal–Labour Popular vote 2,635 2,164 Percentage 54.24 44.54
Member before election Robert McNab Liberal Elected Member Sir John Findlay Liberal

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It was caused by the death of incumbent MP Robert McNab,^[1] and was won by fellow party Liberal Party member Sir John Findlay with a majority of 471 votes.

Under the terms of the coalition agreement between Reform and the Liberals a condition was made not to oppose each other in by-elections for deceased or retiring MPs from their own parties. As the deceased MP for this electorate was a Liberal the Reform Party did not contest the seat, and endorsed the Liberal's official candidate as a sign of goodwill and wartime unity. The newly formed Labour Party chose not to stand a candidate, but there was rumour that former MP for Nelson, Harry Atmore was considering standing in "Labour" interests.^[2] This did not eventuate.

Sir John Findlay was chosen by the Liberal Party to contest the seat, he was a former Legislative Councillor and served in Sir Joseph Ward's cabinet from 1906 to 1911 as Attorney-General and later as Minister of Justice.^[3] Former Napier MP Alfred Fraser previously sought the Liberal nomination, however he retired from the contest,^[2] yet 9 votes were still cast for him.

H. Ian Simson also stood in support of the National Government and was Findlay's only real competition for the seat.^[2]

The following table gives the election results:

Findlay held the seat until the next general election and then retired.^[3]