LENGTHY SERVICE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26228, 12 August 1946, Page 9

LENGTHY SERVICE

MR ATMORE’S RETIREMENT FIGURE IN DRAMATIC SCENE The decision of Mr H. Atmore, M.P. for Nelson, not to stand at the coming general election,as announced last week, will remove from the House a veteran member first elected in 1911. Mr Atmore, who was born in 1870, married comparatively late in life a* daughter of Mr J. R. Corrigan, a well-known resident of Hawera.

Shortly after entering the House. Mr Atmore, who has been an Independent except for his association with the United Ministry. from 1928 to 1931. was the central figure in a dramatic political scene. A no-confidence motion in the Ward Government in 1912 saw the Government facing defeat without Mr Atmore’s support. He was the centre of interest, and his action in joining Government members in the “Noes’* lobby saved a political upset. Defeated in 1914, Mr Atmore regained his seat in 1919 and continued to represent Nelson as an Independent until 1928, when he had his reward for his earlier support of Sir Joseph Ward and his long interest in education by being appointed Minister of Education. He retired from the Cabinet when the Coalitiftn was formed and reverted to his former status of an Independent member, which he has since retained. For many years Mr Atmore was a supporter of the original Liberal Party and its successors, but since the advent of Labour to power in 1935 he has identified himself in the House with much of the Government’s policy and has been a consistent voter with the Government on major issues. Mr Atmore. a speaker able to draw on a fund of political knowledge,, will be remembered for his work in the Atmore report on education. He has been prominently associated with Freemasonry, and as a young man represented Nelson at Rugby. He has also been well known in business, local government, and education cricles in Nelson, and as a temperance advocate was closely connected with the State Control League.