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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Nelson, Marlborough & Westland Provincial Districts]

Former Members Of The House Of Representatives

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Former Members Of The House Of Representatives.

Mr. Frederick Aloysius Weld represented Wairau in the first Parliament of New Zealand, in the proceedings of which he took a prominent part, and was regarded as a man of considerable promise. He was associated with Mr. J. E. Fitzgerald in the Executive Council that held office from the 14th of June till the 2nd of August, 1854, and was Minister for Native Affairs in Mr. Stafford's Government. In the year 1860, he was defeated by Mr. W. H. Eyes, by the narrow majority of four votes. Shortly afterwards he was elected member for Cheviot, and held office as Premier from the 24th of November, 1864, to the 16th of October, 1865. Apart from politics, he was well known as a pastoralist, and a member of the firm of Clifford and Weld, owners of Flaxbourne, one of the most notable of the early historic sheep runs of New Zealand. In his later years, he was associated with the colonial branch of the Imperial service, and was successively, Governor of West Australia, Tasmania, and the Straits Settlements. His services in this connection extended from 1869 till 1887, when he retired on a pension; and he had, also, been created a knight of the order of St. Michael and St. George. Sir Frederick Weld died in England, on the 20th of July, 1891. His portrait, and a brief sketch of his life, appear on page 60 of the Wellington volume of this work.

Mr. William Wells was member for Wairau in the House of Representatives from the year 1856 to the year 1858, and subsequently sat as member for the suburbs of Nelson. He is further referred to on Page 33 of this volume.

Mr. William Henry Eyes was elected to the House of Representatives, as member for Wairau, in the year 1860, when he defeated Mr. F. A. Weld, the sitting member, by four votes. He supported the Fox party in the House, and on his vote the Stafford Ministry was overthrown. Mr. Eyes is further referred to as one of the Superintendents of Marlborough.

Dr. Monro was elected unopposed to represent Picton in the House of Representatives, in the year 1860, and in the next session he became Speaker of the House. Subsequently he was returned as member for Cheviot, and was again elected Speaker, a position which he filled until the 13th of September, 1870. In 1866, he was knighted in recognition of his services as Speaker. After twenty-five years of political life, he retired, and lived in page 311 Nelson up to the time of his death. Sir David Monro is further referred to on pages 31 and 32 of this volume, and at page 112 of the Wellington volume of this Cyclopedia. He died on the 15th of February, 1877.

Mr. Arthur Beauchamp was elected in the year 1866 to represent Picton in the House of Representatives. He was also a member for the same district in the Marlborough Provincial Council, and during the debate, at Picton, to remove the seat of Government to Blenheim, Mr. Beauchamp led a strong stonewall by speaking for ten hours and forty minutes. Prior to the inception of the Borough Council at Picton, he was chairman of the Town Board, and, in later years he acted as Government Valuer at Wanganui. Mr. Beauchamp was born in Highgate, London,
Mr. A. Beauchamp, his son Harold, and grandson Leslie.

Mr. A. Beauchamp, his son Harold, and grandson Leslie.

England, on the 4th of October, 1828, and was educated at the Highgate Grammar School. After some commercial experience, he left England, in the year 1848, by the barque “Lochnagar,” for Australia, where he was engaged in business, for several years, in various parts of Victoria and New South Wales. Mr. Beauchamp then visited New Zealand to take possession of some land left to him by a relative, but owing to unlooked-for complications between the Government and the New Zealand Land Company, of which his relative had been a promoter and shareholder, he returned to Sydney, at the time of the gold rush. He unsuccessfully followed the goldfields for some time, and finally started an auctioneering business in Melbourne, but, as the climate proved fatal to his young children, he sold out and came to New Zealand in the brig “Lalla Rookh.” Mr. Beauchamp settled in Picton, where he established himself in business, in 1861. In 1867, he opened a branch business on the Buller, as an auctioneer and timber merchant. He subsequently sold his interest at the Buller, and started an auctioneering business in Wanganui and at Wellington, and sawmilling at Manaroa, in the Pelorus Sound; but the sawmill was destroyed by fire. In 1880, Mr. Buauchamp removed to Christenchurch, where he was a well-known auctioneer for ten years. After many vicissitudes, he settled at Kenepuru, in the Pelorus Sound, where he resides with one of his sons, Mr. Stanley Beauchamp.

Mr. William Adams was elected in the year 1867, to represent Picton in the House of Representatives. He is further referred to as the first Superintendent of Marlborough.

Captain Courtenay William Alymer Thomas Kenny sat for Picton in the House of Representatives from 1868 to 1881. He is further referred to as a member of the Legislative Council, to which he was called on the 15th of May, 1885.

Mr. Arthur Penrose Seymour was a member of the House of Representatives from the year 1872 to the year 1875, and again from 1876 to 1881. He is further referred to as one of the Superintendents of Marlborough.

Mr. Joseph Ward , sometime of Blythfield, was a Member of Parliament for the Wairau in 1872, and one of the pioneer settlers of Nelson and Marlborough. He was born in Staffordshire, England, in 1817, and came out to Nelson, New Zealand, in 1842. Very soon afterwards he removed to Marlborough, where he was surveying for a few years. He and his brother-in-law, the late Mr. Cyrus Goulter, were employed by the New Zealand Company and the Provincial Government of Nelson, of which Marlborough was then a part, to lay off the Wairau Plain in agricultural blocks. He also surveyed many of the large pastoral runs in the province, and was selected by the Marlborough Provincial Government of the day to cut up and lay off the town and district of Kaikoura. Mr. Ward afterwards took up on the Clarence river a large block of country, known as the Warden run, to which he subsequently added another adjoining block, known as the Tytler run. This large strotch of country at one time carried from 50,000 to 60,000 sheep, but the cost of eradicating scab and the concurrent destruction of the pasturage by rabbits, compelled Mr. Ward to relinquish pastoral pursuits on a large scale, and for the last seven or eight years of his life he devoted his attention to the Blythfield and Brookby estates, which were disposed of after his death. Mr. Ward took a prominent part in the provincial councils of Nelson and Marlborough, and was on the Commission of the Peace. As a politician he was a strong Conservative, and from the earliest days of provincialism to within a few months of his death he took a leading part in all matters affecting the political welfare of the district. He more than once acted as Deputy-Superintendent of Marlborough, and when Mr. A. P. Seymour visited the Old Country, Mr. Ward, whose opponent was Mr. Sefton Moorhouse, was elected to represent Wairau in Parliament. Mr. Ward was a fine, ready and at times pungent speaker. While he was in Parliament the abolition of the provinces took place, and he was one of the strongest opponents of that measure. Mr. Ward stood for
The late Mr. J. Ward.

The late Mr. J. Ward.

re-election, but was defeated by the late Mr. Henry Dodson. He was afterwards frequently solicited to stand, but he never again consented to be nominated, and was accustomed to plead as an excuse that the intrigue of colonial politics as practised in Wellington was not to his liking. In church matters Mr. Ward was an ardent supporter of the Roman Catholic Church. No settler in Marlborough had faced more of the trials and hardships incidental to the early settlement of the country, than Mr. Ward. He was a true pioneer, and no privation ever hindered him from doing his duty to himself or his adopted country. The pass between the Wairau and Nelson, known as Ward's Pass, was discovered by him. Though not exactly an eye witness of the Wairau massacre, Mr. Ward was at the time surveying in the neighbourhood, and arrived on the scene a day or two later to behold the ghastly havoc that had been wrought by the Maoris. Mr. Ward died on the 12th of November, 1892, in consequence of a severe attack of influenza, and left a widow, seven sons and three daughters to mourn a devoted husband and loving father. In less than five months, his widow—a daughter of the late Mr. Henry Redwood, and sister of Archbishop Redwood—followed him to the grave, grief for the loss of her husband having broken up her constitution. Mr. and Mrs Ward had come to Nelson together in the ship “George Fyffe,” in 1842.
page 312

Mr. Edward Tennyson Conolly was elected member of the House of Representatives for Picton, in the year 1881, when he defeated Mr. W. H. Eyes by forty-one votes. He was a lawyer by profession, and he had formerly been a member of the Provincial Council. On the 11th of October, 1882, he became Minister of Justice in the Whitaker Ministry, and he also held the same office in conjunction with that of Attorney-General in the Atkinson Ministry, from the 25th of September, 1883, to the 16th of August, 1884, Mr. Conolly represented Picton until 1887, when he retired from political life. He was appointed a Judge of the Supreme Court on the 15th of August, 1889, and resigned on the 9th of September, 1903. Mr. Conolly is further referred to on page 81 of the Wellington, and page 272 of the Auckland, volume of this Cyclopedia.

Mr. Henry Dodson sat for Wairau in the House of Representatives from the year 1882 to the year 1890. He played a conspicuous part in the public life of Marlborough during the earlier years of its history. Mr. Dod-son was a member for some years of the Provincial Council, was four times Mayor of Blenheim, and was a painstaking and useful member of many minor corporations. He was born in England, and was the son of an officer in the Imperial Army. At an early age, Mr. Dodson went to Canada, whence he came to New Zealand. He arrived in Blenheim—then known as the “Beaver”—some time in the fifties, and subsequently founded the brewing establishment that still bears his name. At his death, he left three sons and three daughters.

Mr. Thomas Lindsay Buick , J.P., represented the Wairau electorate in the House of Representatives from the year 1890 to the year 1896, At his first election, he opposed Messrs S. J. Macalister and A. P. Seymour, and was returned by a majority of seventy-seven votes. At that time, he was the youngest candidate who had ever been elected to the House. Mr. Buick is the author of “Old Marlborough.” He is now (1905) senior partner in the firm of Buick and Russell, proprietors of the “Advocate” newspaper, Dannevirke.

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