9 Years As P. Minister

Northern Advocate, 1 December 1949, Page 7

9 Years As P. Minister

Only Mr R. J. Seddon and Mr W. F. Massey had had longei terms as Prime Minister than Mr Fraser, leader of the defeated Labour Party at yesterday’s poll.

Mr Fraser was Prime Minister for nine years.

He has been in Parliament since October, 1918, when he won the Wellington Central seat in a by-election. He retained this seat until the 1946 election, when, owing to the revision of electoral boundaries, he transferred to Brooklyn.

He became Minister c>£ Education and Health when the Labour Party was returned to power in 1935 and, on the death of the then Prime Minister,'Mr Savage, in April, 1940, Mr Fraser became Prime Minister. Mr' Fraser was bom at Fearn. a Scottish village in R'oss-shire. WORK FOR PARTY Coming to New Zealand in 1910 Mr Fraser rose from .waterside worker to president of the Auckland Genera! Labourers’ Union, and, when the Social Democratic Party was.formed in 1913, he became its national secretary When this party was reconstituted the New Zealand Labour Party Mr Fraser was, in turn, an executive member, vice-president and president. During the 1914-18 war Mr Fraser served a term of imprisonment under war legislation for anti-conscription activity, but this was followed by his election to Parliament in 1918.

He became deputy-leader of the party when Mr Savage succeeded Mr H. E. Holland as leader'. Mr Fraser was sworn in as Privy Counsellor in 1941. He is a member of the Order -of Companions of Honour, and has had conferred on him by the University of Aberdeen the honorary degree of Doctor of Laws. Mr Fraser was married in 1918. Mrs Fraser died in J 3-15-Defeated Ministers

The defeated Minister of Supply (Mr Nordmeyer) has been M.P. for Oamaru since 1935, Born in Dunedin, he was ordained a Presbyterian minister in 1925 and was Minister of the Kurow Church for 10 years.

He resigned to contest the Oamaru seat in the Labour interest in 3935. He has been a member of the Waitaki Hospital Board since 1932. Mr Nordmeyer has been a referee and selector of the Waitaki Rugby subunion.

The Minister of Agriculture (Mr E. L. Cullen), also defeated, is a Hawke’s Bay farmer who served for three years with the New Zealand Rifle Brigade as a sergeant in the 4th Battalion, during the 1914-18 war. He was one. of the original founders of the Wairoa Herd Testing Association. and twice director of the Wairoa Cooperative Dairy Co., Ltd.

He was first elected to Parliament in 1935 and was elevated to Cabinet rank at the end of 1946, following the retirement of Mr Ben Roberts.