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THE NEW MEMBERS.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. OLD FACES AND NEW. Among the new members elected to the House are several who previously sat representatives of the electors. MR A. STUART. The new Reform Coalition member* for Rangitikei, Mr Alex Stuart, was' born in Bannffshire, Scotland, in 1876.1 He commenced the realities of life as a farm labourer and came to New Zealand as a young man of 19, securing a position in the Rangitikei county as a farm labourer. After following this occupation for some five years he successfully engaged in road contracting in the Rangitikei and AYnnganui counties for a further period of about five years. He then returned to farming, purchasing a small property on the Heaton Park estate. By hard work, industry and ability be prospered and eventually purchased his present farm, “Runnymcde,” Marton. Being a first-class farmer, he worked his property very successfully, his farm being recognised as one of the best cultivated in the Rangitikei county. His operations included grain growing (wheat and oats) as well as grazing. While active on his farm Mr Stuart has, for many years past, taken a prominent interest in matters of public concern. He has been (and still is) a councillor on the Rangitikei County Council, having sat for a number of years. He was a member of the Wellington Land Board for several years, being more particularly interested in the work of soldier settlement,, and incidentally was chairman of an advisory board set up bv the Government to inquire into the position of sohlier settlements. Mr Stuart was an officer of the Marton branch of tlie Farmers’ Union, including the chairmanship for a period ; and a committeeman, vice-president and president for three vears of the Marton Agricultural and Pastoral Association; ho is a director of the New Zealand Farmers’ Co-operative Distributing Co., Ltd. Various other local and district organisations, including school committees, | have received his active support. He is well and favourably known as a capable and successful farmer and one who has rendered very useful service to the district in which lie settled. MR D. S. REID. Mr D. Stewart Reid, who successfully contested the Raglan seat as a Coalition Reform candidate, 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 lias lived at Tuliikaramen, in the Waipa County, since a child. There were only two or three settlers at Tukikaramea when Mr Reid went to reside there, and he has done his share towards developing the district into the fine, dairying and cattle-raising centre it is to-day. For more than 30 years Mr Reid has taken an active interest in local body affairs and lie has served as chairman of the Waipa County Council, the Tuhikaramea Road Board and School Committee, and ns a member of the No. 2 District Highways Board and the Central Electric Power Board. MR J. CONNOLLY. Mr J. Connolly, who was elected yesterday for Mid-Canterbury as a supporter of the United Party, was born at Geraldine in 1875 and educated at the Hilton School. At tlie age of 18 he took control of his father’s farm in the Hilton district, and commenced on his own account eight years later. He gradaully increased his holding and purchased the well-known Rankapuka Estate, near Geraldine, in 1902. In 1919 he disposed of this property and acquired the Langley Estate at Rakaia, where he still resides, carrying on 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. He unsuccessfully contested the Ellesmere seat in 1925 and Mid-Canterbury three years later, MR A. S. RICHARDS. The new member for Roskill, Mr A. S. Richards was born in Reading, England, in 1877. He arrived in New Zealand in 1894 and for some while worked on sheep 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 his removal to Auckland in 1922. He unsuccessfully contested the Hamilton seat in 1922, Marsden in 1925, and Roskill in 1928. MR J. A. LEE. Mr John A. Lee,' who has regained the Grey Lynn seat for Labour, was bom in Otago in 1891, and was edu-

cated at tire Albany School in Dunedin. After working on farms m Otago and Southland for a 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 tlie 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 Maillv Maillet in April, 1918, and he returned, to New Zealand on Peace Day, IJIJFrom 1922 to 1928 Mr Lee represented Auckland East as a Labour member, being defeated in the latter year by Mr J. B. Donald, the United Party’s candidate. ‘He Iras been president or tlie Auckland Labour Party an( l a member of the executive of the Auckland Returned Soldiers’ Association. MR P. McSKIMMING. Mr Peter McSkimming, who has been elected as United Party member for tlie Clutlia seat in place of Mr F. Waite, is a native of Ayrshire, Scotland. Arriving as a lad with his parents in Otago in 1878. he received his education at Waitahuna Gully, Waitaliuna, Lawrence, and finally at Stirling School. After a period of service at the brick and pipe works at Benhar, Mr McSkimming and his father took over the colliery and pipe works, and established a business of their own. Under Mr McSkimming’s leadership the industry developed in many directions, the most recent being the establishment of the up-to-date pottery for manufacture of porcelain sanitary ware of all kinds. . Besides the business at Benhar and its various extensions, Mr McSkimming has found time to engage in many other commercial enterprises, including farming. He is chairman of directors of the South Otago Freezing Co., and also of the Kaitangata Coal Co., and of the South Otago Star-Bowkett Society. He is a director in A. and T. Burt, Ltd., the Bruce Woollen Co., the Otago Farmers’ Co-operative Association, and the Dominion Fertiliser Company. Mr McSkimming has promised his support to the Coalition.

MR D. W. COLEMAN

The newly-elected member for Gisborne, Mr D. W. Coleman, lias been connected with the Labour movement for the past 28 years. He has occupied the position of president of tlie Gisborne Labour Representation Committee, and represented Gisborne at many Labour conferences, both industrial and political. Mr Coleman has had considerable local body experience. Fifteen years ago he was elected to the Gisborne Borough Council and tlie | Gisborne Hospital Board. Since I March of 1928 he has been Mayor of Gisborne. 1 HON. A. D. McLEOD. Hon. A. D. McLeod, who has been again elected as the representative of Wairarapa, was born in 1872, being the third 6on of the late William McLeod, one of the early Wairarapa pioneers. After serving an apprenticeship on liis father’s farm in all classes of farm work, Mr McLeod, took up farming on his own account in 1895. The following year lie was elected a member of the Featherston Road Board —now the Featherston County Council —and retained a seat on it until his election to Parliament in 1919. Mr McLeod has taken a keen interest in all forms of sport, and held several official positions on various sporting bodies in the Wairarapa. He was not long in making liis presence felt.in Parliament, his speeches being marked by commonsense and revealing shrewd observation. On June 25, 1924, Mr McLeod was appointed by the late Mr Massey to take over tlie portfolio of Lands. He officially represented New Zealand at the inauguration of the new Federal capital at Canberra and the opening there of the Houses of Parliament of the Australian Commonwealth on May 9, 1927. Aji ardent advocate of the freehold principle, Mr McLeod did much during his term of office to provide the right of conversion to Crown lease holders. Following the death of Mr Massey, Mr McLeod continued to hold office in the Coates Administration. At the 1928 general election Mr McLeod was rejected by the Wairarapa electors, who returned the United Party candidate, Mr T. W. McDonald. As a member of the late Parliament, Mr McDonald was the official Coalition candidate at yesterday’s poll, Mr McLeod fighting the election as a straiglitout supporter of the Reform Party. MR JAMES HARGEST. The fourth attempt of Mr James Hargest to gain Parliamentary honours has been crowned with success. The new member for Invercargill was horn at Gore in 1891, and was educated at State schools. He then engaged in farming until August, 1914, when he left the Dominion with the Main Body of the New Zealand Expeditionary Force as a second lieutenant in the Southland Mounted Rifles. After serving at Gallipoli he was obliged to come back to New Zealand on account of serious wounds. .In 1916, however, he again went overseas, seeing considerable active service in France. He was twice mentioned in despatches, and was decorated with the D. 5.0., M.C., and the French Legion of Honour. He ultimately gained the rank of lieutenantcolonel, and was placed in command of the Ot.ago Infantry Battalion. On the termination of hostilities Mr Hargest returned to the Dominion and settled at Mandeville in 1919. In the following year he purchased the Rakatouka (Southland) property, of Mr James Milne, and he has since been sheep-farming there. MR F. JONES. Mr Frederick Jones, who has been returned as Labour member for Dunedin South, is a native of Dunedin. He served his apprenticeship as a lelieker in boot factories. For 20 years he has held the position of secretary of an employees’ sick benefit society. He has been a member of the Bootmakers’ Union for 27 years, and during that time has occupied nearly every official position, representing that union at many of its conferences and disputes. He was appointed by |the Government to act on the Footgear Inquiry Committee. He has been a member of the Otago Labour Council since 1912, and has been president on three occasions. < He has been an active member of the Otago Labour Representation Committee since it was first formed about 15 years ago. Mr Jones holds the position of president of the Workers’ Educational Association, and has always taken a keen interest in adult education. MR F. W. SCHRAMM. Mr F. W. Schramm, who has won the Auckland East seat for the Labour Party, was born at Hokitika, of pionqer 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 barrister and solicitor in Auckland or preme Court. He has practised as. a barrister and solicitor in Auckland or,

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 Hon. J. A. Young, then Minister of Health.

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Bibliographic details

Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 3, 3 December 1931, Page 5

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1,929

THE NEW MEMBERS. Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 3, 3 December 1931, Page 5

THE NEW MEMBERS. Manawatu Standard, Volume LII, Issue 3, 3 December 1931, Page 5