LOWER HOUSE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVII, Issue 110, 12 May 1939, Page 8

LOWER HOUSE

NEW CHAIRMAN OF COMMITTEES

POST FOR MR. M CKEEN

Mr. R. McKeen, member for Wellington South,, is to be nominated as Chairman of Committees of the House of Representatives in succession to the late Mr. E. J. Howard. The Prime Minister (the Rt. Hon. M. J. Savage) said last night that caucus had considered the question of Mr. Howard's successor, and was of opinion that Mr. McKeen, who is Chief Government Whip, should be nominated for the position. This would be done when the House met next month.

The Hon. W. E. Barnard would again be nominated as Speaker.

Mr. McKeen has represented Wellington South in Parliament since 1922. He was born in Edinburgh, and was at first a grocer's assistant and was active in the Labour and cooperative movements. He arrived in New Zealand in 1909 and served as the secretary of a number of unions in Wellington, and also, as secretary of the Wellington Labour Representation Committee for three years. He has been a member of the Wellington City Council since 1923, and has also been a member of the Wellington Harbour Board for several terms. In 1936 he represented the Government at the International Labour Conference in Geneva.