EX-M.P.'S DEATH

MR. F. F. HOCKLY SERVICE FOR ROTORUA The death of Mr. Frank Franklin Hockly, the first member of Parliament for the Rotorua constituency, has occurred in Auckland. Mr. Hockly, 'who was 71 years of age, was elected for Kotorua when it became a constituency in 1919, and represented it until 1928. Born at Orrell, near Liverpool, Mr. Hockly came to New Zealand in 1884 and engaged at work on the land. He had always interested himself closely in movements connected with farming. He was one'Of the earliest members of the Farmers' Union. He was on several occasions a delegate to Dominion conferences, and was for two years a member of the advisory committee of the organisation. He was the first chairman of a sub-provincial branch in the Dominion.

Mr. Hockly served for nine years on the Kiwitoa County Council, being chairman for five years, and, after taking up land in the Waikato, he was a member and for a time president, of the second Auckland District Military Service Board during the war. He had farms at Makuri, in the Forty-Milt* Bush, and near Hunterville, and later near To Awamutu, where ho took an active interest in local affairs.

A staunch member of the Reform Party, he presided at the first Reform conference, held shortly after Mr. Masscy became Prime Minister. Ho first contested a seat in Parliament in 11)09, when he was defeated on a second ballot. Ho had an easy victory over three other candidates when he contested the Hotorna seat in 1919, and he went to live in that district. Mr. Hocklv served for several •years as Chairman of the Lands Committee of the House of Representatives, and in 3926 was elected Chairman of Committees, following tlio elevation of Sir Alexander Young to Cabinet rank, and he also became deputy-Speaker. Ho was narrowly defeated in the 1928 election by Mr. C. H. Clinkard, who stood in the United interests. Mr. Hockly then came to live in Auckland. He did not withdraw altogether from public life, as he was appointed chairman of the Auckland Mortgagors' Relief Commission under the Mortgagors' Relief Amendment Act of 1931. Mr. Hockly had had a comparatively brief illness. He is survived by his wife, four sons and two daughters.