MR WILFORD, M.P.

Evening Star, Issue 17923, 20 March 1922, Page 8

MR WILFORD, M.P.

A SHORT BIOGRAPHY. Mr Thomas Mason Wilford, M.P. for Hutt and Loader of tho Opposition in the New Zealand Parliament, is a stranger comparatively to tho South Island', though loiown, of course,' through tho Press of the country for maiw years as a public man. Mr Wilford. or" Tom Wilford, as ho is called affectionately.- was born in tho Low Hutt on Juno 20, 1870, of Quaker parentage, Ids mother being tho daughter of tho 'late Thomas Mason, ex-M.P. for Hutt in the far back days. His father, Dr J. 0. F. Wilford, who was, like his mother's parents, from Yorkshire, England, was ono of tho first medical men to settle in tho Hutt district, arriving there a young lad of twenty-three with his Guy's Hospital, London, qualifications just obtained. Mr Wilford's political tendencies came entirely from his mother's side. At the age of seventeen years, having completed his education at Christ's College, Canterbury, ho joined the legal firm of Brandon and Son, in Wellington, and at eighteen years of ago passed his final examinations as a solicitor, and had to wait until he was twenty-one years of age to bo admitted to practice. Tho same year ho got his cap as a representative footballer, while he was a first-class horseman, riding regularly to hounds, and a good field shot. At "twenty-one years of ape ho 'came to "Dunedin and was married at Knnx Chinch, bv tho late Dr Stuart to Georgia, the second daughter of tho late Sir George M'Lean. At twenty-three years of age Mr Wilford was beaten' for the Hutt seat by Dr Newman by the narrowest of margins. At twenty-sis ho beat tho Hon. T. W. His?op, fate Minister of Education, for the Hutt seat, and was unseated on petition and mado to stand down till three years later (1899), when ho again contested the seat and was successful. From that date till to-day he has continuously represented his birthplace to the satisfaction of that constituency, and during tho last election, when members of his side were going down like ninepins in a three-cornered contest, with a Reform and an extreme Labor candidate against him ho romped homo with over 1,000 votes to his credrit. In Parliament he has been Chairman of Committees and Minister of Justice, Minister of Marine. and Minister in Charge of Police, and in control of Estate and Stamp Duties for two years, and a member of the Executive, and ho lias now become Leader of the New Party and Leader of the Opposition since the death of tho late Hon. W. D. S. MacDonald. Ma- Wilford entered parliamentary life as a follower of the late Right Hon. R., J. Seddon, whose son, Mr T. E. Y. Seddon, is now, with Mr Geo. Forbes, a Whip of the New Party. Outside of Parliament Mr Wilford has made his mark as a barrister, and has found time in his very busy life to put in twelve years on the Wellington Harbor Board, the laet two years as chairman, besides being for two years Mayor of the City of Wellington, the second year of which he was elected unopposed. On his retirement from 'the mayoralty of the city he was appointed with the late Hon. J. G. W. Aitken Sinking Fund Commissioner for the city, which position he held •for eleven years until he became Leader of the Opposition, when he resigned. He ia also a permanent trustee of the St. John Ambulance Association for New Zealand. During the war Mr Wilford toured Now Zealand at his own expense, and raised by war lectures and appeals over £20,0C0 for the Red Cross. Mr Wilford is an optimist to his Bj;gertips as fair as New Zealand is concerned. " No politicians can ruin this country," ho said m the course of an interview, but he continued.: " I am satisfied that it does not' follow that the country is being run as well as it could be run "; and ho concluded : " I have been on tho inside as a Minister for two years, and I know." This review would not be complete without a reference to Mrs Wilford, whoso able assistance Mr Wilford claims has helped him all along the lino. While ho was lying ill in 1911, and unable to conduct his election of that year, Mrs Wilford personally took the platform on his behalf, speaking at all the polling centres, and ho was that year returned by a very substantial majority. Mrs Wilford has also worked on the social welfare sido in tho city of Wellington, and received no less than 13,000 votes when she was elected to the Wellington Hospital Board, being beaten only by Dr Platts-Mills, though there wero more than thirty candidates standing for election. Mr Wilford was to have left for Invercargill on Saturday, but that visit was made unnecessary by those whom ho desired to see arranging to meet him,' in Dunedin this afternoon. Ho will go to Oamaru to-morrow, where ho will hold a private meeting with supporters. On Thursday he will be in Temuka, and on Friday night he will confer again with f the new organisation formed by him in Christchurch.