LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVII, Issue 159, 7 June 1937, Page 9

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL

FIVE VACANCIES. ONE MAY. BE REAPPOINTED. Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, June 6. Five Legislative Councillors are due to vacate office on Thursday. They are Hons. At. Fagan, 11. Masters, D, Buddo, R. ’ McCailuin and J. Trevethiek. It appears certain that Mr Fagan will bo immediately re-apopinted, but it is considered in Parliamentary circles that the terms of the other lour aro unlikely to be extended. BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS. A native of Tasmania, Mr Fagan worked as a miner in that State as well as in the other States of the Australian Commonwealth. He came to New Zealand and sottled on the West Coast about 37 years ago. Air Fagan was general secretary of the lnangahua Gold and Coal Aliners’ Union for 16 years, and lie was also workmen’s inspector for that period. He was closely connected with the initiation and carrying out of important reforms in working conditions in the mines. These included provision for improved ventilation and sanitation, the third compartment system of rising, change rooms, and bathrooms, compulsory regulation of shot-firing, and the installation of dust-laying appliances, including the wnter-leyner drill. Air Fagan was actively associated with the promotion of the Aliners’ Phthisis Act of 1915. He was later instrumental in securing the benefits of this legislation for many unfortunate miners. Among other improvements Air Fagan was largely responsible for obtaining first-aid appliances installed in the mines. During his term ns secretary of the lnangahua Aliners’ Union, lie repeatedly appeared in the Arbitration Court, the Conciliation Council, and other tribunals on behalf of miners.

For 10 years Afr Fagan was a member of the lnangahua Hospital . and Charitable Aid Board, and for seven years lie was chairman of that body. He was founder and secretary of the lnangahua Aliners’ Accident Relief Association, with a membership of 1000; a member of the Reefton Domain Board; president _ of the lnangahua Prospecting Association, which represented the whole of the Reefton district ; and secretary-treasurer of the Reefton centre of the St. John Ambulance Association. He was a member of the repatriation board for the Inangaliua district, during the whole period of its existence, and lie gave devoted and conscientious service in the interests of the returned soldiers.

Mr Fagan, who commands 'the respect of all members of the legislature, takes a keen interest in all kinds of sport. He was a member of the Inangahua Trotting Club for a long period, and president for three years. He is a member of the Wellington Harbour Board, and two years ago visited London as the representative of tho Council at the conference of the British Empire Parliamentary Association.