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THE NEXT PARLIAMENT.

NEW MEMBERS ELECTED. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. CAREERS IN PUBLIC LIFE. A number of new faces will be seen in ! the next Parliament, while one or two j candidates who held seats in the House on previous occasions have been elected once more. Notable among these is the Hon. A. D. McLeod, who has recaptured Wairarapa. There have been four changes in the ! Auckland district, the new members in these cases being Messrs. F. W. Schramm (Auckland East), J. A. Lee (Grey Lyrin), A. S. Richards (Roskill) and D. S. Reid (Raglan). . The following are brief biographical notes on new members:— MR. D. STEWART REID. Mr. D. Stewart Reid, who has captured the Raglan seat for the Reform Party, was member for Waikato in the Parliament of 1925-1928, being defeated in the latter year by Mr. F. Lye, the United Party's candidate. Mr. Reid was born at Drury in 1867 and has lived at Tuliikaramea, in the Waipa County, since a child. There were only two or three settlers at Tuhikaramea when Mr. Reid went to reside there, and he has done his share toward developing the district into the fine dairying and cattleraising centre it is to-day. For more than 30 years Mr. Reid has taken an active interest in local body affairs and he has j served as chairman of the Waipa County Council, the Tuhikaramea Road Board and ! school committees, and as a member of the i No. 2 District Highways Board and the i Central Electric-power Board. He has also been a Justice of the Peace for many | years. MR. A. S. RICHARDS. Mr. A. S. Richards, who has captured the Roskill seat for the Labour Party, was born in Reading, England, in 1877. He arrived in New Zealand in 1894 and for some while worked on 3heep and cattle runs in Poverty Bay. In 1905 he started in business in Gisborne and four years later he was elected to the presidency of the East Coast Trades and Labour Council. He subsequently held many offices in the Labour Party in Gisborne prior to hi 3 removal to Auckland in 1922. He unsuccessfully contested the Hamilton seat in 1922, Marsden in 1925 and Roskill in 1928. MR. F. W. SCHRAMM. Mr. F. W. Schramm, who has won the Auckland East seat for the Labour Party, was born at Hokitika, of pioneer parents, who came from Australia in the 'sixties, having originally resided in Denmark. * He was educated at the Hokitika High School and at Canterbury University College. For a number of years he served in the Justice Department, attaining the position of deputy-registrar and deputy-sheriff of the Auckland Supreme Court. He has practised as a barrister and solicitor in Auckland for the last nine years. Mr. Schramm volunteered for service in the Great War, and, although rejected for overseas duty, he spent 18 months in camp in ' the Dominion. He has long been associated with the Labour movement, and at the general election in 1928 he unsuccessfully contested the Hamilton seat against the Hon. J. A. Young, then Minister of Health.

MR. JOHN A. LEE. Mr. John A. Lee, who has regained the Grey Lynn seat for Labour, was born in Otago in 1891 and was educated at the Albany School in Dufledin. After working on farms in Otago and Southland for some while Mr. Lee came to the North Island in 1909 and obtained employment with the Public Works Department. He served with the New Zealand Forces during the Great War and was awarded the D.C.M. for conspicuous gallantry in the Battle of Messines. He had his left forearm shot off at Mailly Maillet in April, 1918, and he returned to New Zealand on Peace Day, 1919. From 1922 to 1928 Mr. Lee represented Auckland East as a Labour member, being defeated in the latter year by the Hon. J. B. Donald, the United Party's candidate. He has been president of the Auckland Labour Party and a member of the executive of the Auckland Returned Soldiers' Association. MR. D. W. COLEMAN. Successful in winning the Gisborne seat for the Labour Party, Mr. D. W. Coleman came from (Queensland to New Zealand 29 years ago and has resided in Gisborne for 27 years. All that time he has been actively associated with the Labour movement, and has represented Gisborne at many of the annual conferences. He has been Poverty Bay's representative on the national executive since the formation of the Labour Party. For a number of years he has served on the Gisborne Borough Council, topping the poll on one occasion. In 1925 and 1928 Mr. Coleman also contested the Gisborne constituency, being defeated on each occasion by Mr. W. D. Ljsnar, then the official candidate of the Reform Party.

' MR, A. STUART. I Mr. A. Stuart, the Coalition Reform j candidate who has defeated Mr. J. T. Hogan in the Rangitikei constituency, I was born in Scotland in 1876 and came to Mew Zealand at the age of 19. After serving as a farm labourer for some time Mr. Stuart successfully engaged in road contracting in the Rangitikei and Wanganui Counties for a period of about five years. He then returned to farming and eventually purchased his present holding at Marlon. Local body politics have claimed the active attention of the new member and he served for a number of years as a member of lxith the Rangitjkei County Council and the Wellington j Land Board. He has also been president, of the Marton Agricultural and Pastoral I Association, chairman of tlie Marton blanch of the Farmers' Union, chairman of the advisory board set up by the Government to inquire into the position of soldier settlements, and a director of the New Zealand Farmers' Co-operative I Distributing Company, Limited.

THE HON. A. D. McLEOD. The Hon. A. D. McLeod, who has re- ' pained his old seat, Wairarapa, whs : Minister of Lands in the Massey and Coates Ministries. A native of Wairarapa, he was borij in 18/2. and is the third son of the late Mr. William McLeod, one of the early pioneers of outback settlement in the district. After serving an apprenticeship on his father s farm. Mr. McLeod commenced sheepfarming on his own account. In 1896 he ! was elected a member of the Featherston Road Board, and retained office until his election to Parliament as a member foi Wairarapa in 1919. lie also represented Wairarapa on the Wellington Hospital Hoard for some years. Mr. McLeod was a member of the producers] committee which Mr. Massev consulted in regard to the setting up of the Meat Pincers Board, and he was also a North Island delegate to the special committee constituted to bring down preliminary legislation in connection with the board. When the Hon. D. H. Guthrie was compelled to relinquish the portfolio of Lands in 1924 owing to illness Mr. McLeod was called to the Cabinet in h>si place. In 1926 he undertook the ndditional portfolio of Industries and Commerce. At the 1928 general election Mr. McLeod was defeated by Mr. T. W. McDonald.

MR. J. CONNOLLY. Mr. J. Connolly, the Independent didate, who has won the Mid-Canterbaxjyi seat, was born at Geraldine ia 1875 and educated at the BilW ton School, At the age of 18 hrf took control of his father's farm in Hilton district and commenced on his owinJ account eight years later. He graduallyf increased his holding and purchased the well-known Raukapuka Estate, ' near* Geraldine, in 1902. In 1919 he' disposed of this property and acquired the Langley Estate at Rakaia, where he still resides, carrying ori extensive agricultural and pastoral pursuits. During the Great War Mr. Connolly was an active worker, being a member of the advisory committee of the National Efficiency Board, the. War Relief Society and Patriotic Association. Ho unsuccessfully contested the Ellesmere seat in 1925 and Mid-Canterbury three years later. MR. F. JONES. Mr. F. Jones, the Labour candidate who has defeated the Hon. W. B. Taverner, Minister of Public Works, in the Dunedin South electorate, is a native of Dunedin and has been in the' service of Messrs. Sargood, Son and Ewen, Limited, for the last 21 years. He has been $ member of the Bootmakers' Union for 21 3'ears and during that time has held nearlj every official! position in the He has been a member of the Otago La< hour Council since 1912 and a membej of the Otago Labour Representation Committee since its inception about 15 year* ago. On both of these bodies he has acted as president. For the last six years ho has served on the national executive of the Labour Party. In 1929 he unsuccessfully contested the Mayoralty of Dunedin. He has always taken a keen interest in adult education and the wort of the Workers' Educational Association. MR JAMES HARGEST. The third attempt of Mr. James Har* gest to gain Parliamentary honours harf been crowned with success. The new member for Invercargill was born at Gor< in 1891 and was educated at State schools* He then engaged in farming until August* 1914, when he lett the Dominion . witfl the Main Body of the New Zealand Ex* peditionary Force as a second-lieutenan# in the Southland Mounted Rifles. Aftejj, serving at Gallipoli he was obliged to, come back to New Zealand on account of serious wounds. In 1916, however, n«*' again went overseas, seeing considerable active service in France. He was twicir mentioned in despatches and was dec<v, rated with the D.5.0., M.C. and French Legion of Honour. He ultimately gained the rank of lieutenant-colpnel anrf was placed in command of an Otago wJ fantry battalion. On the termination of hostilities Mr. Hargest returned to th* Dominion and settled at Mandeville inr 1919. In the following year he purchased the Rakahouka (Southland) property ofc Mr. James Milne and he has since been; sheep-farming there. Mr. Hargest been a prominent member of the Southland Land Board, the Southland Land Purchase Board and the Assessment Courtu Since the war he has maintained his interest in military matters and in 1926 he was promoted to colonel and given the command of the 3rd Infantry Brigade. He is an honorary aide-de-camp to His Excellency the Governor-General. At thw general election in 1925 he stood; against the late Sir Joseph War <2 in the Invercargill constituency, and ** the by-election last year he was nart rowlv defeated by Mr. \incent Ward. The; new member was married during th* Great War to Sister M. H. WilkieJ A.R.R.C., of the New Zealand Nursing! Service. MR. PETER McSKIMMING. Mr. Peter McSkimming, the new la< dependent United member for Clusha, 4 a native of Ayrshire, Scotland, having been born in the parish of Dreghorn, far from the town of Kilmarnock. Arriving as a lad'with his parents in Otagoj in 1878, he received his education af Waitahuna Gully, Waitahuna, Lawrence,; and finally at Stirling School. After al period of service at the brick and pipe works, Benhar, then owned by the late Mr. John Nelson, Mr. McSkimming an<f his father took over the colliery and pipe works and established the business nour known as McSkimming and Son, Ltd.. Under Mr. McSkimming's leadership tn« industry has developed in many directions, the most recent being the establishment oC the up-to-date pottery for the manufacture of porcelain ware of all kinds. McSkimming is an elder in the Presby-j terian Church at Stirling and has always' taken an active part in all the social' ; activities of the district. Besides thej business at Benhar and its various ex 3 ' tensions, Mr. McSkimming has engageoe in many other commercial including farming. He is chairman on directors of the South Otago Freezing Company, the Kaitangata Coal Company}' and the South Otago Starr-Bowket.l» Society and is a director in A. and T« Burt, Ltd., the Bruce Woollen CompanyJ the Otago Farmers' Co-operative Associa* tion and the Dominion Fertiliser Comi pan}'. He is a keen believer in the dafl velopment of the Dominion's own reP sources.

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Permanent link to this item

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Bibliographic details

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 21046, 3 December 1931, Page 11

Word Count
1,995

THE NEXT PARLIAMENT. New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 21046, 3 December 1931, Page 11

THE NEXT PARLIAMENT. New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 21046, 3 December 1931, Page 11