THE NEW MEMBERS IN PARLIAMENT.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XXXVI, Issue 7984, 30 September 1887, Page 2

THE NEW MEMBERS IN PARLIAMENT.

WHO THEY ARE AND WHAT THEY HAVE DONE. [SPECIALLY PEEPARED FOR THE TABANAKI HERALD.]

Gladstone. — Mr. A. E. Gr. Rhodes, is the new representative for Gladstone. It has been noted that the present election Is remarkable for the number of young New Zealanders who are entering the House, and the public will watch the career of ■ these with more than ordinary interest. Among all the young colonists who are thus taking an active part in the Government o£ the country, there are none entering Parliament under more promising auspices than the new member for Gladstone. Mr, Rhodes has not only the inierest in. the welfare of the colony, which everyone must feel who has been born and for the most part educated here, but coming of a wealthy family he has a substantial stake in the country, and therefore has especial reasons for desiring that the affairs of the colony shall be wisely and prudently governed. Added to this he possesses a great deal of natural ability, which haß been strengthened and brought out by a liberal education and close attention to his studies. Mr. Rhodes is the son of the late Mr. George Rhodes, owner of the land where the town of Timaru stands, and was born at the Levels in 1859. He was educated at Christ's College. He is a graduate of Jesus College, Cambridge, where he matriculated in 1877, and took his degree B.A. and L.L.B. and a second class in the law tripos three yean later on. He has had some experience in a London lawyer's office, and is besides doing a good business in Christchurch as barrister and | solicitor, and is president, vice-president, I committee man, and vestry man in societies, clubs, and associations of all kinds. He has been a member of the Christchurch Drainage Board for the past three or four years. His reputed financial capacity, industry, intelligence, and force of will, however, are good capital for the future, and these qualities, it is said, are anything but lacking in the new member for Gladstone. His election manifesto pledges him to be an opponent of the Government "as at present constituted." He has been a liberal supporter of the Church of England and local societies of various kinds, and he also takes a great interest in athletic sports. He has achieved a deal of popularity not only in the Gladstone electorate but in Cbristchurcb, and his selection has been the source of widespread congratulation.

Lyttelton.— Mr. John Joyce, the new member for Lyttelton, was bom at St. Ives, Cromwell, in 1839 ; he is of Irish extraction. He came to Melbourne in 1854, and his first employment was on board the Water Police boat, of which hia father had command. Service in the emigration department, and the command of a small hooker of 65 tone, in which cook, stevedore, and crew all answered to the I name of Mr. Joyce, nest filled in & space in the new member's lifetime, till shortly before his arrival in New Zealand Commissioner Brannigan, when the " rushes " to the Otago diggings came about, organised a water police, and there Mr. Joyce did service in 1863 as officer in oharge. Some years after he became clerk to the Bench, and the transit to law was the simple outcome of a rational desire to better himself. In 1868 Mr. Joyce was articled to Mr. Hodgkinson, widely known as an amateur painter in water colours, and was admitted to the Bar in 1873. He practised in Dunedin and the port town, and in 1879 he moved to Chirstchuroh and settled at Sydeuham. He was twice I Mayor of that bore jgh, and chairman of i the School Committee. Mr. Joyce raised the Sydenham Rifle Corp in 1883, the majority of which came to him in 1885. Like nearly all the new Canterbury members he is a Vogelite of the Vogelites. Rangitata. — Mr. S. Buxton, the member for the electoral district of .Rangitata, is a farmer. He has now been a resident in New Zealand d little over twenty-one years, nine years of which he spent in farming pursuits in Springston and West Melton respectively. iFor the past twelve years he has been engaged in farming on the Rangitata Island. To quote his own words, from his maiden political speech, "he is commercially and socially pretty well known from Chris tchurch to Timaru, from the hills to the boundary of the sea." He is, however, quite new to political life, and does not even pretend to have made a particularly close study of politics. He I has been a zealous worker in the cause of \ religion and temperance with the Wesleyan and Primitive Methodist bodies, and with all the temperance bodies he carries great weight, and has done much to further their cause. He is a fluent, and at times humorous, speaker. He came forward as a rep^seatative of the farming and working classes. • Waipawa. — Mr. Thomas Tanneb, the member for Waipawa, came to the colony in 1853, taking up a block of country on the Ruotamaka Plains. He is a successful sheep farmer, and one of the negotiators for the purchase of the oelebrated Heretaunga Plains, the subject of so much legislation. He introduced hop culture in Hawke'B Bay. Is a large employer of labour, aud a most enterprising settler. He Bat in the Provincial Council till the 1 abolition. He is a member of the Harbour Board and County Council. Waitotara. — Mr. Geobge Hutchison, who has beaten the Hon. Mr. Bryce in the Waitotara district, is a Scotchman by birth, and, with his parents, came to New Zealand in the year 1865. Mr. Hutchison, Benior, first went to Auckland, and was connected with the Southern Cross newspaper. He afterwards settled in Wanganui, where he owned and edited the Wanganui Chronicle for some years, giving his son an opportunity of getting a practical insight into journalism, which he has often turned to good account. The latter then took up the study ot the law, and attended one winter's sessions at the Otago Univer sity. He was admitted as a barrister of the Supreme Court of New Zealand in 1872, and started business in Wanganui in partnership with Mr, Denniston towards the end of that year. Mr. Hutchison's first political suit was addressed to the Waitcura electors in 1881, but he withdrew from the contest and wooed the suffrages of the Egmont electors. Major Atkinson, however, was too strong an opponent for him. In 1884 Mr. Hutchison opposed Mr. Ballunce for Wanganui, and was again defeated. Tbis year he returned to his first love, and bus ejected Mr. Bryce from possession of a seat he has held for tweuty-oae years. Mr. Hutchison has been elected to support the' present Government. In education be favours retrenchment, by raising the school age to 7, and stopping free eduoation at the fourth standard. He is a Protectionist, and approves of Mr. Balance's land schemes. Waikaia. — Mr. Hugh Sutherland Valentine, member of the new ' constituency of Waikaia, is under 40 years of age, aud is a native of Aberdeen, wuere he was educated. He commenced his commercial career in 18G9, iyii some three years later became connected with the colonial house of MoCulloob, Sellar, & Co. Lie then entered the London office of the Now Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency Uo. in a minor capacity, and by perseverance and industry attained the second irighfist position in the office, that of icoountant. He then joined the New Sualaad Agricultural Company as aecre<»ry, und on Air. Driver resigning the , Utinagetship in tho colony, Mr. Vulentine, is warn .; director, paid a visit to the >olony iv inspect the property. Shortly tf tor returning tp England fte was .apjj

pointed general manager in the colony, and arrived here about three years ago. Since then he has taken an active interest in every movement for the furtherance of the interests of the district, beinp the prime mover in starting the Gore Dairy Factory. He has shown great prudence in dealing with the settlers on the Company's 6state, reducing the values of farms and putting them in a position to combat with the depressed times. He is a shrewd, far-seeing man, and very popular. He is captain of the Gore Volunteers, and a life Fellow of the Colonial Institute and Geographical Society, etc. He was a member of the Sydenham Parliamentary Union of 800 memberp, in which the leading members of the House take an aotive interest. P &eathcoie.~-Mr. Jonbs, the member for Heathcote, is a business man, well known in Chriatchurch. and is a member of several local, bodies. He k highly respected as one on whom no imputation of jobbery or Belf -interest has been known to rest. He was elected just previous to the commencement of last session, nx a time when the seat was going a begging, and might have been had by anyone willing to spend a few pounds. At this juncture the constituency appealed to Mr. ' Jones, and he was elected without any real contest. His opppnnent waß never in the running. ■