DELEGATION TO GREAT BRITAIN

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 42, 13 November 1941, Page 8

DELEGATION TO GREAT BRITAIN

Mr. Lowry Government Member EMPIRE PARLIAMENTARY ASSOCIATION The selection of Jlr. Lowry, M.P. for Otaki, as the representative of the Government Party to visit Great Britain at tlie invitation of the United Kingdom branch of tlie Empire Parliamentary Association, was made at a caucus of the Parliamentary Labour Party in Wellington yesterday. Mr. Lowry's selection was announced by tlie Prime Minister, Mr. Fraser, at the conclusion of caucus last evening. Two prominent members of the New Zealand Parliament, one Government member and one Opposition member, were invited by the association to visit the United Kingdom to inspect war conditions there and to meet Parliamentary colleagues at Westminster and to discuss witli them questions of mutual interest, just as tlie Parliamentary delegation from Canada is doing in the United Kingdom at present. Jlr. Lowry is a returned soldier of the Great War, and as a member of tlie War Council he will be well equipped to inform the British people of all aspects of New Zealand’s war effort.

Tlie Opposition member of tlie New Zealand delegation will be the party’s leader, Jlr. S. G. Holland. Mr. Lowry and Jlr. Holland will be away from the Dominion for about three months. Jlr. Lowry, who has represented Otaki in the House of Representative's since 1935, was born iij Loudon in 1884, and was educated at Barnet Grammar School. He entered the Civil Service, but, anxious to see something of the world, resigned from his position and travelled extensively, finally settling in New Zealand in 1906. Before the Great War he was in the employ of the Wellington City Council. He left New Zealand for overseas with the fifth reinforcements, and on his return from active service in 1918 was offered an appointment in the New Zealand Defence Forces. This he declined, and instead he decided to take up business as a bookseller and stationer in Otaki, where he has lived ever since. Jlr. Lowry has served as chairman of the Finance Committee of the Otaki Borough Council, and as a. member of the Otaki Licensing Bench, the Otaki Fire Board and the New Zealand Booksellers’ Council. He has been chairman of the advisory committee of the Otaki branch of the Plunket Society, and at one time was conductor of the Otaki Choral Society. .Mr. Lowry takes a keen interest in defence questions, and is a member of the Defence Committee of the House of Representatives. He is also a member of the Native Affairs Committee.