NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER ELECT: MR. S. G. HOLLAND

Wanganui Chronicle, 1 December 1949, Page 5

NEW ZEALAND PRIME MINISTER ELECT: MR. S. G. HOLLAND

Businessman, Farmer, Soldier, And A Family Man

| The new Prime Minister of New Zealand, Mr Sidney George Holland, leader of the National Party, was born at Greendale, 30 miles south of Christchurch, on October 18, 1893. His father, the late Mr Henry Holland, was a native of Yorkshire, and his mother, formerly Miss Jane Eastwood, a native of Lancashire. There were eight children in the family. One of |them died in infancy, and the second son, Percy Holland, was killed in action at Fleurbaix in World War I. Sidney George Holland was the fourth son. When he was five the family moved from* Greendale to Christchurch, 'where his father took over the hauliage business known as W. A. McLaren land Co. In those days heavy goods for outlying towns and districts had to be harJed by traction engine, and this form of transport was the firm’s principal business. It was a special treat for Mr Holland and his brothers, when they were boys, to be able to drive one of the traction engines. Starting school at the West Christchurch District High School, he want 'right through the school from the ■primers to the secondary .grades, and | before leaving played for the first fifteen as a front row forward. After leaving school he joined the hardware firm of Mason Struthers, but in 1912, when his father was elected Mayor of Christchurch, went I into his father’s business, assistance I being necessary in it on account of i his father's mayoral duties. WAR SERVICE Prior to World War I he served in “E” Battery, first as a volunteer and then as a territorial when that scheme came into operation. In 1915 he volunteered for active service, and went into camp with the 11th reinforcements. He was transferred to the 13th reinforcements as a battery sergeant-major, and just before the reinforcement was to sail he was given a commission and posted to the 17th reinforcements. This was a mixed reinforcement of about 170 men, which sailed in the Pakeha, and Mr Holland, with the rank of secondlieutenant, was placed in command of it. At Dakar the ship was fitted with a 4.7 gun, and for the rest of the voyage, which was unescorted, he was also in command of the gun crew. In England he was posted to the Lark Hill gunnery school and subsequently served in France, where he coutracted a severe illness during the Battle of Messir.es. Several operations followed, arid he returned to New Zealand in Jux.e, 1918, as a cotcase on the hospital ship Maheno. He then spent six months in the soldiers’ hospital at Rotorua. BUSINESS AND POLITICS After Ihe war he and his eldest brother, Stanley, started in business on their own account under the name of the Midland Engineering Company, and they also bought out a small factory known as the Christchurch Mechanical Works. They had an uphill light to get established. For 17 years they did not pay a dividend, but concentrated on paying off debt. Mr Holland’s father was elected member for Christchurch North in 1925, and thereafter he acted as his father’s organiser and secretary during election campaigns. He also took active part Tn the Canteibury Employers' Association, Christchurch Citizens’ Association, and the Chamber of Commerce. In 1935, owing to an accident two weeks before the election, his father 'was unable to stand for Christchurch

I North and he stepped into the breach, winning the seat by 971 votes from Mr .R. M. Macfarlane, then Mayor of Christchurch. In 1938 he was reelected by 432 votes, again defeating IMr Macfarlane, and since then his I majorities have steadily increased, his [majority in 1946 being 3004 votes. In 1935 Mr Holland and Mr J. A. McL. Roy were the only new nonlabour members to enter Parliament. The overwhelming defeat of the former Forbes-Coates party provided scope for new blood, and the new member for Christchurch North soon made an impression Jn Parliamentary life, proving himself a capable speaker and an energetic, industrious member. He was apointed leader of the National Party in November, 1940. ASSOCIATION WITH HOCKEY As a sportsman Mr Holland is best known for his long association with hockey. After leaving school he joined the Sydenham Hockey Club, of which he has been a financial member for 42 years. Although he is now a life member of the club, he still pays his annual subscription. In 1912, when 19 years of age, he was selected to play for Canterbury as left wing forward, and in 1914 played for the South Island in the same position. After the war he captainef CanterI bury, became chairman of the Canterbury Hockey Association (of which he is now a life member- and later became a referee and selector. He founded and edited the New Zealand Hockey Bulletin, which has proved a most useful adjunct to the game, and he refereed the first hockey test played in New Zealand, between New Zealand and India. In 1932 he was one of the selectors who chose the New Zealand hockey team which toured Australia under the captaincy of R. L. Munro, now a member of the Fijian Legislature, and incidentally, a brother of Mr L. K. Munro, editor of the "New Zealand Herald." Mr Holland was manager of the team on tour. It had an unbeaten record. He has also been a ke.en tennis player, deerstalker, flshernjan and golfer, and still enjoys a game of golf when the opportunity offers. He does his own gardening, specialising in gladioli and dahlias. Since 1939 he has been the owner of a farm in North Canterbury called Greta Paddock, originally part of the Stonyhurst run. FAMILY UFE Mr Holland was married in 1920 to Miss Florence Drayton. They have four children. The eldest, Eric, who is 27, served in the recent war and is now in his father's business. The second, Dr. Geoffrey Holland, recently qualified in medicine. He is 24. Miss Jocelyn Holland is 22, and Miss Lois Holland, a New Zealand University blue at tennis, is 21. There are 'two small grandchildren, the son and i daughter of Mr and Mrs Eric Holland. ! In his office in Wellington Mr Holtland is methodical and highly efficient. He shows a flair for delegating authority, but he works long hours in 'dealing with official business, including the mass of correspondence which I flows in upon him. In his office he ! has autographed pictures of Mr Churchill and Lord Beaverbrook, and there are also photographs of his mother and father, his wife and his two daughters. He does not smoke, and touches liquor only on infrequent social occasions. Those who are closely associated with him know him as a very fit, active and energetir man for his 56 years.