MR. WILFORD, M.P.

Taranaki Daily News, 25 November 1922, Page 2

MR. WILFORD, M.P.

LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION. Mr. Thomas Mason Wilford, M.P* for Hutt and Leader of the Opposition in the New Zealand Parliament, was born at Lower Hutt, on June 20, 1870, oi Quaker parentage, his mother being tne daughter of the late Thomas Mason, ex-M.P. for Hutt in the far back days. His father, Dr. J. G. F. Wilford, who was, like his mothers’ parents, from Yorkshire, England, was one of the first medical men to settle in the Hull district. Mr. Wilford’s political tendencies came from his mother’s side. At the age of seventeen years, having completed his education at Christ’s College, Canterbury, he joined the legal firm of Brandon and Son, in Wellington, and at eighteen years of age passed his final examinations as a solicitor, and had to wait until he was twentyone years of age to be admitted to practice. The same year he got his cap as a representative footballer, while he was a first-class horseman, riding regularly to hounds, and a good field shot. At twenty-one years of age he married the second daughter of the late Sir George McLean. At twenty-three years of age Mr. Wilford was beaten for the Hutt seat by Hr. Newman by the narrowest of margins. At twenty-six he beat the Hon. T. W T . Hislop for the Hutt seat, and was unseated on petition and made to stand down till three years later (1899), when he again contested the seat and was successful. From that date till to-day he has continuously represented his birthplace. In Parliament he has been Chairman of Committees and Minister of Justice, Minister of Marine, and Minister in Charge of Police, and an control of Estate and Stamp Duties for two years, and a member of the Executive, and he has now become Leader of the Opposition since the death of the late Hon. W. DS. MacDonald. Mr. ‘Wilford entered parliamentary life as a follower of the late Right Hon. R. J. Seddon, whose son, Mr. T. E. Y. Seddon, is now, with Mr. George Forbes, a Whip of the New Party. Outside of Parliament Mr. Wilford has made his mark as a barrister, and has found time in his very busy life to put in twelve years on the Wellington Harbor Board, the last two years as chairman, besides being for two years Mayor of the City of Wellington, the second year of which he Was elected unopposed. On hfe retirement from the mayoralty, of the city, he was appointed 'with the late Hon. J. G. W. Aitken, Sinking Fund Commiesioner for the city, which position he held for eleven years until he became Leader of the Opposition, when he resigned. He is a permanent trustee of the St. John Ambulance Association for New Zeai land. During the war Mr. Wilford ? toured New Zealand at his own ex*pense, and raised by war lectures and appeals over £20,000 for the Red Cross.