THE NEW MINISTERS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2861, 13 January 1909, Page 37

THE NEW MINISTERS.

BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. Our parliamentary correspondent telegraphs the following particulars of the new Ministers : — MR RODERICK MKENZIE. Mr Roderick M'Kenzie, who has been a prominent figure in the New Zealand Parliament for many years, was born in Rcssshire, Scotland, in 1852. He received his early education at the Glasgow Academy, after which he served for two years with th© London and G-lasgow Engineering and Iron Shipbuilding Company. He then emigrated to Canada, but did nob remain lout in the big Dominion, for in 1869 we find him in the sailing ship City of Dunedin on his way to New Zealand. He was a miner in Central Otago in the early days, but left that province for the West Coast, where he engaged in bridge building. He completed some of the largest contracts in Weßtland, including the construction of the Westport staiths, at a ■cost of £22,000. He also built the railway bridge at Arahura, and laid the rails to Hokitika. He constructed the wharf on Jervoie jiuay, Wellington. Mr M'Kenzio was first elected to Parliament for the Buller seat in 1893, when he cofea'ed Mr IBugene O'Conor by over 300 votes. On the readjustment "of the electorates Mr M'Kenzie stood for the Motueka s&at, and defeated Mr Hursthouse and Major Franklyn. He has had practically a very safe seat ever since. The elevation of Mr Millar to Cabinet rank, on the formation of the Ward Ministry in 1906, left the chairmanship of committees vacant, and Mr M'Kenzie -n as elected to the position. He is a man of veiy strong will and a shrewd politician. His appointment should be popular on the West G'oa6t.

i MR A. W. HOGG. ] Mr Hogg has been one of the staunchesfc j 5 supporters of tlie Liberal party for many 5 years, and he has strong Socialistic ten- * denciep. He is also a believer in the J > leasehold, an advocate of State flour mills, j ■ and has worked hard to get the duty ' [ taken off flour. His appointment will, r therefore, not be popular with "the farm- ■ ing community. He is a Scotchman, and is getting up in years, being 63. He was born in Glasgow, and received his eduea- ; tion in the public schools there and at the Andersonian College. He emigrated io Victoria in 1858, and engaged in mining, storekeeping, and journalism. He came to New Zealand in 1877, and managed and edited the Diinedin Age for some years. He conducted newspapers in Ashburton and Timaru up to 1881. Mr Hogg wps editor and part proprietor of the Star, at Masterton, for a brief period. He was a member of the Wellington Land Board from 1900 to 1907. and is a member of the Wellington Education Board and Victoria College Council. He was chairman of the Parliamentary Lands Committee from 1902 to 1905. In the last Parliament Mr Hogg was a member of the Education, Extension of Commerce, and Agiicultural, Pastoral, and Stock Com- ! mi t tees. ME, BUDDO. Mr Buddo is a Scotchman, and hails from Edinburgh. He is 57 years of age. He received his early education in Ivincardineshire, first at a public school, and then at a private grammar school. He came to New Zealand as a young man of 1 21, his profession being that of an engineer. He settled to farming, and on iiis j return from a trip abroad he bought the ' farm at Rangiora, on which he now resides. He was returned for Kaiapoi at the general election in 1893, deieatmg Mr Richard Moore by a majority of 87. Mr Moore defeated han at tho election of 1896, buT at that of 1399 Mr Buddo polled 2106 votes to Mr Moore's 1703. At the election in 1902 Mr Buddo received 2534 votes, and his opponent (Mr Hawaii) 1302, and at the election last November the voting was: Buddo, 2724; Moore, 2653. Mr Buddo has served on several bodies, and was chairman of the North Canterbury Education Board for seven years. He represent*) Ashley County on the Lytteltou Harbour Boctid, and is a North Canterbury School Commissioner. He was captain" of the North Canterbury Mounted Rifles from 1901 to 1903. He favours the freehold tenure of land battlement. Ho is a frequent exhibitor in the show ring of draught horses and Border Leicester sheep. During the last Parliament Mr Buddo was a member of the Agricultural. Pastoral, and Stock. Education, and Petitions Clatsification Committees. MR T. MACKENZIE. Mr T Mackenzie is another of the quartet of Scotchmen who have just besn included in the Ministry. He hails from Edinburgh, and is in his fifty-fourth year. He arrived in Dunedin with his parents when" lour years of age, and served as a lad in a dry goods store. By dint of industry and ability he worked his way up, and eventually became a successful businefcs mun. For some time he was engaged in etOitkeeping in. Balclutha, and 'he represented the Clutha District for nine years as a staunch member of the Conservative party. He was first elected in 1887. In 1889 he was appointed a commissioner by the New Zealand Government to proceed to England and inquire into the produce trade, and in 1896 he ag.un visited England, where he remained for three years, representing several colonial mercantile firms, chiefly in the wool and grain business. During that time he exposed many frauds in connection with the New Zealand meat trade. On his return from the Old Country he was elected to represent Waihemo in the House of Representatives, and for s&verul years he occupied the position of a-n Independent in politics. .Recently he went over to the Liberal side in politics. In 1902 he was returned as member for Waikou.iiti, and at the last election he stood for Taien, and defeated the Labour candidate by 2071 votes to 2066, largely by reason of the Opposition support he received, there being no Opposition candidate in the fieldf Mr Mackenzie represented New Zealand at the centennial celebrations in Sydney in 1888. He was a member ot the Royal Commission on the tariff in 1894, and was appointed a governor of the Royal Imperial Institute in 1897. He sat' as a member of the New Zealand Educational Commission in 1901. Mr Mackenzie served for seven years as a member of the Balclutha Borough Council, and he was Mayor of Roslyn from 1901 till 1905. He has taken a prominent part in education matters, having been a member of the Otago Education Board for many years and being an ex-chairman. In 1886 he> was elected a Fellow of the Colonial Institute, and in 1898 a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. Mr Mackenzie has been a msmber of various Parliamentary committees during his term in tb/3 House, and has taken particular interest in the work of the extension of Commerce Committee, of which he has been chairman for some time. He has taken a very keen interest in New Zealand exploration and botany. On the land question he is a freeholder. MR A. T. NGATA. Mr Apirana Ngata is the member for the Eastern Maori District. He was born in a Maori village near the East Cape in 1874. He entered the Native and Te Aute College, Hawke's Bay, in 1883, and he went to Canterbury College in March, 1891. He passed as "B.A. in 1893, and was runner-up for the senior scholaiship in political science the same year. He was articled to Mr (now Justice) Theo. Cooper, of Devore and Cooper, Auckland, in May, 1894, and took his M.A. degree with honours in political science the same year at Auckland, and passed his final LL.B. in 1896, being admitted as a barrister and solicitor in 1897. On the j formation of the Te Aute Students' As- !

| sociation he was appointed travelling secI letary in March, 1899, and occupied his time travelling in the Maori districts, lecturing on sanitation, initiating reforms in 1 sanitation, and undertaking communal | sheep-farming on the East Coast. He was i appointed organising inspector to the Maori Councils during 1902-4, but resigned that position because of the development of sheep-farming among the Maoris of the Waipu County. He was elected to Parliament- for the Easterji Maori District in December, 1905, and was re-elected at the last election. Mr Ngata acted on the Royal Commission to inquire into the Te Aute and Wanganui Trusts, and in 1907 he was appointed to the Native Land Tenure Commission. He is secretary to the Maori Congress Committee.