PARLIAMENTARY SILHOUETTES,

New Zealand Graphic, Volume IX, Issue 48, 26 November 1892, Page 1172

PARLIAMENTARY SILHOUETTES,

(BY

BIRD’S-EYE.)

THE member for Tuapeka, Mr Hugh Sutherland Valentine, is one of the most level-headed business men in the present Legislature. A staunch Conservative and believer in the right of the poor to labour for the rich, Mr Valentine sits in close proximity to the Hon. the leader of the present Opposition, of whose party he is one of the strongest bulwarks. There are no two ways about Mr Valentine ; he knows what he means, and he means what he says, and he says some unpalatable things occasionally—which is only another way of putting the fact that he has the courage of his opinion. Courage, indeed, Mr Valentine certainly does not lack, any more than capacity, and I must do him the justice to say that, while his attitude toward the party in power is as uncompromising as ever, he during last session showed a reasonableness in debate which, if not exactly ‘ sweet,’ was in strong contrast to the unreasonableness which pervaded the utterances of some in the same neighbourhood.

The member for Tuapeka is not exactly an eloouent speaker, but he has a fair articulation, and good staying power. His accent is decidedly Caledonian, but his phraseology is good, and he is fluent without being verbose. As a rule, his speeches are of moderate length, and generally well worth listening to ; he is, however, of valuable aid to his party in a stonewall, and has been known to keep on his legs for a matter of four hours, during which, however, it would be stretching a compliment to say that his observations weie all jewel freighted. He is a sensible, capable man is Mr Valentine, with a head as long as level, and though not exactly an apgel from a democratic point of view, his absence from the House would be a decided loss to it. I hope, however, he will change his bench next session, or reform, instead of abetting, his ‘ barracking ’ friends. Mr Valentine was born in Aberdeenshire in 1848, and was educated in the city of Aberdeen. His first start in life was

in a sharebroker’s office there, and when he was about twenty years’ old he migrated to London for further business experience. Soon after this he entered into business relations with the colonies, and became connected with the New Zealand Loan and Mercantile Agency. Subsequently he joined the New Zealand Agricultural Company of which he was made Managing Director, and is now General manager and legal representative in the colony. His connection with the Company dates back thirteen years. Mr Valentine's first visit to the colony was paid in 1882 and was of a flying character, but the fact that two years later he came to settle here, would seem to imply that his brief impressions were favourable.

Mr Valentine, since casting in his lot with the colonials, has shown the greatest interest in our institutions, and has taken an energetic part in promoting various enterprises of a character calculated to encourage industry, and promote the commercial prosperity of his adopted country. In 1886, two years after his arrival, he started one of the earliest dairy factories established in the Otago district, of which he is still chairman. He also established an important canning industry which, directly and indirectly, gives em-

ployment to a large number of men. He has also given a large share of his attention to agricultural and pastoral interests. During the Russian scare of 1886 Mr Valentine employed his superfluous energies in forming a company of volunteers, which took the name of Gore Rifles, and of which he was made Captain, a position he still retains, and is likely to, as he takes a very great interest in the service. On several important occasions he has acted as staff officer. Mr Valentine’s advent to the House of Representatives took place in 1887, three years after his arrival in the colony, when he was returned to represent Waikaia. The Boundary Commissioners having obliterated this electorate, he, in the General Election of 1890, contested Tuapeka, and was again successful. A career so full of work, so distinguished by energy and go aheadism, and so invariably successful as that of Mr Valentine’s has hitherto been, is not likely to stop short at its present stage, and we may look forward wi.h tolerable certainty to seeing him, at no distant day, occupying a responsible political position, which there is no doubt he possesses the capacity to fill with credit to himself and benefit to the community. In addition to the successes and rewards which have followed his enterprises, the member for Tuapeka possesses distinctions of a less common character, and which argue in their possessor a considerable range of inteiests. He is a fellow of the Royal Colonial Institute, and a Life Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, a distinction conferred on him after his return to London from his first brief visit to the colony. He is also a member of the London Chamber of Commerce. Thoroughly decided in all his opinions, the member for Tuapeka is a strong opponent of womanhood suffrage, which he believes would operate in a manner prejudicial to the best interest of the community—as seen through his particular spectacles. Mrs Valentine, on the contrary, approves of Woman’s Political Enfranchisement, seeing in it a possible means of counteracting the evils which she believes attributable to manhood suffrage, which, as a genuine Conservative, she conscientiously and decidedly disapproves of. Mrs Valentine is a comparatively recent arrival in the colony, having only come here in 1884. Arriving in Wellington during the session of that year she was soon after married to Mr Valentine. Mrs Valentine is very accomplished, speaks several languages, and is a talented musician and vocalist. She was brought up and educated in Germany, her father, the late Herr Frederick William Linck, being a commander in the German Imperial Navy.