Death of Mrs E. R. McCombs

Manawatu Times, Volume 60, Issue 133, 8 June 1935, Page 5

Death of Mrs E. R. McCombs

NEW ZEALAND’S FIRST WOMAN LEGISLATOR Per Press Association. CHRISTCHURCH, June 7. Obituary. —Mrs Elizabeth McCombs, M.P., for Lyttelton; aged 62. She had been in ill health for some time.

Tribute by Leader of Labour Party GAP IN RANKS HARD TO FILL Per Press Association. AUCKLAND, Last Night. Feeling refencc to tlio death, of Mrs McCombs was paid by the leader of the Labour Party (Mr M. J. Savage). 1 ‘Her passing lias created a gap in the ranks of the Labour Party that win be hard tp fill,” he said. “She was not only the first woman to occupy a scat in tho Parliament of New Zealand, but also, by her outstanding ability, both in the House and out, she made a very effective reply to those who maintained that women are not tho equals of men either in local or national government.” Mr Savago and Mr P. C. Webb, member for Buller, who has been visiting Auckland, left to-night to attend the funeral.

The lute Mrs McCombs, the first woman legislator in New Zealand, was elected to represent the Lyttelton district at a by-eleetion held at Christchurch on September 13th, 1933, made necessary by the death of her husband, the late Mr James McCombs, who at that time was ALP. for that part which Mrs McCombs was subsequently . to represent. Ivaiapoi, the busy little town some fourteen miles north of Christchurch, was in 1573 tho cradle of Elizabeth Iteid Henderson, but she received her primary and secondary education in tho capital city. As a girl she was a brilliant scholar, and her unusual personality manifested itself when, at an early age, she identified borseif with several movements for tlio betterment of the conditions of women and children.

For some years she was secretary to the Children’s Aid Society, the forerunner of social welfare organisations; was president o'f the Christchurch branch of the W.C.T.U., of which body she was also for some time Dominion treasurer; and a member of the executive of the now defunct Progressive Liberal Association of Canterbury. This last named body, which aimed at the legislative enactment of many rciT. was not a political party in the ordinary sense, but several people who were identified with it were responsible in a large measure for the placing of the Association’s aims on the Statutes. Old age pensions, land reform, the initiative and referendum, and elected executive, and the reform of the Upper House were the chief planks in its policy. Then, it was regarded as a very revolutionary body. It was during this period, in 1903, that Elizabeth Henderson was married to the late James McCombs, and for thirty years they worked in the greatest harmony for the realisation of the ideals that inspired them—ideals which were the motive force of James McCombs’s increased activity, an uncompromising activity that gained him .many friends and also’ many enemies in the political field. Mrs McCombs was first elected a City Councillor in 1921, and she had been the city “mother” ever since, holding the responsible office of chairman of the electricity committee of the Council for six years. She was elected to the North Canterbury Hospital Board in T 923, and served on it up to her death. In 1927 she became the first and only woman member of the Tramway Board, and was re-elected in 1930. During the strike some fifteen months before she was elected to Parliament, she made tireless efforts to heal the breach while defending the point of view of the men. The Christchurch Domains Board has also had the benefit <rf her experience.

Tho late Mrs McCombs is survived by one son and one daughter. They arc Mr T. H. McCombs, M.Sc., A.1.C., and Miss Patricia McCombs, who is a student at the Canterbury College.