FIVE CANDIDATES ANNOUNCED BY N.Z. LABOUR PARTY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXVI, Issue 22915, 6 April 1949, Page 3

FIVE CANDIDATES ANNOUNCED BY N.Z. LABOUR PARTY

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, April 6. Five candidates selected by the New Zealand Labour Party for the general election this year were announced yesterday by the national secretary, Mr. A. J. McDonald. He said that in each case the candidate was unanimously selected by the local organisations in the electorate concerned and the selection had been subsequently endorsed by the national executive of the party. The candidates and electorates for which they ha've been selected are: Hawke's Bay,- Mr. H- E. Beattie; Marlborough, Mr. J. M. Wilson; Selwyn, Mr. E. A. Sharp; Tauranga, Mr. H. JPickett: Waimate, Mr. W. R. Davison. Mr. Beattie, who was the Labour Party candidate for Hawke's Bay at the last general election, was born in New Plymouth 54 years ago. He served overseas with the engineers in the Ist N.Z.E.F. and on his discharge from the army took up a soldier’s block of sheep country near Kaiwaka. He is a foundation member of the Napier R.S.A. He served on the Hawke’s Bay Land Board and has taken particular interest in the development of back block lands and the rehabilitation of returned servicemen. He is married with a family of four sons and one daughter.

Mr. Wilson was born in Cumberland, England, in 1907, his family coming to New Zealand three years later. He entered the teaching proression and took the B.A. degree at Victoria University College- For the past eight years he has been the head teacher at Spring Creek, Marlborough. He has three sons

Mr. Sharp was the Labour Party candidate for Selwyn at the 1946 general election. He was born in Sydney and is 45 years of age. He has had extensive experience in farming and in the industrial labour movement. After residing in Greymouth for a number of years he moved to Canterbury, where he worked on farms. He later worked as telegraph linesman for the Post and Telegraph Department. In 1938 he was elected to the Christchurch City Council being a member for three years- He is a member of the board of governors of Canterbury Agricultural College.

Mr. Pickett is the Mayor of Waihi. He is the president of the Ohinemuri Miners’ Union and the North Island Gold Miners’ Federation. He was born in Auckland in 1910. For nine years Mr. Pickett was employed by the State Forest Service and for a further two was an afforestation officer employed by a private company. He has been employed in the Waihi gold mines since 1938 as a contractor. He is married with three children. Mr. Davison contested the Waimate electorate in 1946- He is 57 years of age. He took up farming on his discharge from the army after the First World War and has a property at Cave. He has served on the Mackenzie County Council and on the Timaru Harbour Board.