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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Otago & Southland Provincial Districts]

Dunedin City And Suburban Members Of The House Of Representatives

page 81

Dunedin City And Suburban Members Of The House Of Representatives.

In accordance with the Representation Act of 1900, the colony is divided into seventy-six European electorates: namely, seventy-two rural districts with one member each, and four city electorates with three members each. Of the city electorates Otago possesses one—Dunedin; and of the single electorates fourteen are situated within the boundaries of Otago. Of these, Caversham is the only city-suburb that has a member for itself. The other suburb that has a member for itself. The other suburbs of the city are included in the Dunedin triple electorate.

The representation of Otago in the Lower House was determined as follows at the last general election in 1902:

  • Dunedin City—Messrs H.D. Bedford, J.A. Millar, and J.G. Arnold

  • Caversham—Mr. T. K. Sidey

  • Port Chalmers—Mr. E. G. Allen

  • Oamaru—Hon. T. Y. Duncan

  • Mount Ida—Mr. A. L. Herdman

  • Waikouaiti—Mr. T. Mackenzie

  • Taieri—Mr. D. Reid, Junior

  • Bruce—Mr. James Allen

  • Clutha—Mr. J. W. Thomson

  • Tuapeka—Mr. J. Bennet

  • Wakatipu—Mr. W. Fraser

  • Mataura—Mr. R. McNab

  • Invercargill—Mr. J. H. Hanan

  • Awarua—Sir J. G. Ward

  • Wallace—Mr. J. C. Thomson

Of these the only new members are Messrs Herdman, Bedford, D. Reid, and J. C. Thomson.

The number of electors on the rolls at the election of 1899 was as follows:

Men. Women. Total.
Dunedin 9,646 10,438 20,084
Caversham 3,001 3,150 6,151
Oamaru 2,610 2,271 4,881
Waihemo 2,620 1,810 4,430
Waikouaiti 2,171 2,086 4,257
Taieri 2,496 2,025 4,521
Bruce 2,659 2,006 4,665
Tuapeka 2,944 1,776 4,720
Clutha 2,868 2,057 4,925
Mataura 3,101 2,085 5,186
Wakatipu 3,059 1,706 4,765
Wallace 3,009 1,571 4,578
Invercargill 2,844 2,960 5,804
Awarua 2,386 1,676 4,062
Grand Totals 45,412 37,617 83,029

It will be observed that in the city electorates, Dunedin and Caversham and in Invercargill, the women exceed the men. But over the great part of Otago, the comparatively unsettled state of the country and the character of the prevailing industries ensure the predominance of the male vote. There is not much doubt that the institution of female franchise has had two distinct effects upon the politics of the colony : the confirmation of the Liberal party in power and the steady growth of the prohibition vote during the last three years.

The allotment of members and division of the electorates is carried out by two permanent commissions, which fix jointly the number of districts for the two islands on a population basis. Up to the last general election the North Island had thirty electoral districts with thirty-four members; the South Island, with Stewart Island, had thirty-two distriets and thirty-six members. Between 1891 and 1896 the movement of population from South to North had reduced the number of South Island members from thirty-nine to thirty-six, and increased the North Island members from thirty-one to thirty-four. The general increase in population made it necessary in 1902 to arrange for six new single electorates, giving, with the four Maori electorates, a total of eighty members to the House of Representatives. With the exception of Civil Servants and contractors who receive from Government as much as £50 in any one year, all male electors are eligible for a seat in the Lower House. The salary of members is £300 a year, with certain deductions on account of absence, and an allowance for travelling expenses. It is thus possible for any man in the colony, however poor, to devote himself to a political life without finding poverty an insuperable bar to his ambition.

Mr. Harry Dodgshun Bedford , M.A., Senior Member in the House of Representatives for the city of Dunedin, was born in Leeds, England, in August, 1877, and is the only son of Mr. Walter Scott Bedford, formerly a woolen merchant of Leeds, and latterly a tarilor of Dunedin. Up to the age of eight he attended a public school at the village of Morley, a few miles from Leeds, and in 1886 sailed with his parents for New Zealand. He continued his education at the public schools in Invercargill, and on reaching the sixth standard, left school to assist his father, who, after spending some years in the service of Messrs Herbert Haynes and Co., had established a tailoring business in Invercargill, on his own account. However, young Bedford soon decided to follow farming as his future calling, and with that end in view he spent a short time in farm work at Makarewa. He was afterwards blacksmithing at Thornbury, and, later on, obtained employment at the Southland Implement Works. During his engagement at these works he commenced to study, and matriculated after twelve months of close application. This success caused him to change his plans, and he determined to study for the legal profession. Two months later Mr. Bedford went with his parents to live in Wellington, and after devoting himself for twelve months to study there, he went to Auckland, where he kept ferms for two years at the University College. In 1899 he returned to Dunedin and graduated B.A. at the Otago University in the following year, where he also carried off the Macandrew Scholarship in political economy, and the University Senior Scholarship in political science. In 1901 he graduated M.A. with honours in the same subject. Mr. Bedford has been especially successful as a debater. In 1899 he gained the oratory prize at the Auckland University College, and has twice represented the Otago University in page 82 inter-collegiate debating contests, at both of which he won honours for his college. During his residence in Dunedin he has taken an active interest in religious work as a local preacher in the Wesleyan Methodist connection, and has closely identified himself with the prohibition movement. In 1901, immediately after graduating, Mr. Bedford contested the Caversham seat, which had been rendered vacant by the death of Mr. Morrison, but, being a comparatively new arrival in the district, and, having been closely occupied in study during his residence, he was but little known, and was consequently defeated. At the general election of 1902, however, he became a camdidate, as an independent Liberal for one of the Dunedin seats, and was elected at the head of the poll with 10,088 votes in his favour—the highest individual vote up till that date recorded in New Zealand.

Mr. John Andrew Millar was first returned to Parliament in 1893 as member for Port Chalmers, and for Dunedin City in 1896. He has since his first election been continuously in the House. On the 25th of November, 1902, he was returned as the second of the three Dunedin members. The first, Mr. H. D. Bedford, polled 10,088 votes Mr. Millar 9,350 and the third member, Mr J. F. Arnold, 8,393. Mr. Millar was born in Julinder, India, in 1855, educated in Edinburgh, Scotland, and brought up to a seafaring life. He settled in Dunedin in 1837, and subsequently became secretary of the Federated Seamen's Union and Maritime Labour council. In the session of 1903 Mr. Millar was elected Chairman of Committees for the House of Representatives; a position which is, in effect, that of Deputy-Speaker.

Mr. James Frederick Arnold was first elected to the House of Representatives as one of the members for the city of Dunedin, in 1899, and was re-elected in 1902, as junior member, with 8,393 votes; a greater number than that secured by the senior member for any of the other cities. Mr. Arnold was born in St. Peter's Port, [gap — reason: illegible], in 1859, and is a son of the late Mr. Julius Arnold, who was a member of the legal profession. In 1864 he came to New Zealand, with his parents, and at the age of sixteen was apprenticed to the clicking branch of the bootmaking trade in christchurch, where he remained eight years. During that time he became an active member of several social organisations, and passed through the various ohairs in the Independent Order of Good Templars, and the Ancient Order of Foresters. In 1882 he removed to Dunedin under engagement to Messrs Sargood, Son and Ewen, in whose employment he continued till his first election to the House of Representatives. In 1896 he was selected to conduct the bootmakers' dispute before the Board of Conciliation and Court of Arbitration held in Christchurch, and came to be spoken of as the “bootmakers' lawyer.” Mr. Arnold was made President of the Bootmakers' Union in 1899, and has since represented it on the Workers' Political Committee, and on the Trades and Labour Council. He was for several years a member of the Executive of the Dunedin Technical Classes' Association, for which he worked hard privately, and in Parliament, and was for some time a member of the Mornington school committee. For six years he was a member of the Mornington Borough Council, and, in 1901. successfully piloted through Parliament a Bill to enable that Council to acquire the property of the Mornington Tramway Company. He is an Oddfellow and Freemason. Mr. Arnold was a member of the parliamentary party which visited the Cook Islands for the purpose of familiarising themselves with the nature and needs of that group. He was married, in 1884, to Miss Isabella Lawden, and has two daughters.

Mr. Thomas Kay Sidey , B.A., LLB., member of the House of Representatives for Caversham, is a son of Mr. John Sidey, who arrived in Otago by the ship “Blundell,” in 1848. He was born at Corstorphine, Caversham, in 1863; was educated at the Dunedin Boys' High School, and at the University of Otago, book his B.A. degree in 1884 and LL.B. in 1887, and was admitted a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court in 1889. Mr. Sidey served for some years as a member of the Caversham Borough Council, and filled the maytoral chair for three years. For ten years he was a member of the Caversham school committee, and for some years secretery to the Dunedin and Suburban School Committees' Conference, of which he has also been president. He is a member of the Council of the University of Otago, has served on the governing body of the Dunedin High School, is an ex-president of the Dunedin centre of the New Zealand Natives' Association, and was one of the first members of the Dunedin Drainage and Sewerage Board, having been returned third among twenty candidates. Mr. Sidey has taken a considerable interest in horticulture, and has been for many years a member of the Executive Committee of the Dunedin Horticultural Society, of which he was president for two years. As an Oddfellow of the Manchester Unity, he is attached to Ledge Loyal Caversham. He has also been for many years an active worker in the Presbyterian church and Sabbath school of his district, and was for some years clerk to the Sustentation Fund Committee of the Symod of the Presbyterian Church of Otago and Southland. Mr. Sidey contested the Caversham seat in the House of Representatives at the general election of 1896 as an independent candidate, and although he was defeated he obtained second place, having polled between eleven and twelve hundred votes. Early in 1898 he returned from a trip to the Old Country after being present at the Queen's Jubilee celebrations, and spending an enjoyable holiday in Great Britain and Ireland. Mr. Sidey visited Germany, France, Switzerland, and Italy in the course of his travels. In 1901 he again contested the Caversham seat at a by-election, and was returned. He was re-elected at the general election in 1902. In 1903 Mr. Sidey married a daughter of the late David Baxter, a Dunedin merchant.

Mr. Edmund Giblett Allen , who represents Chalmers in the House of Representatives, was born in Somersetshire, England, and came in 1863 to New Zealdand from Tasmania, where he had resided for ten years. After a few years' residence in Canterbury. Mr. Allen became engaged in railway contracts; first, on the Wellington-Hutt railway, and subsequently, in partnership with Mr. Kingstreet. he constructed the railway between Waipukurau and Takapau. In 1875 the firm constructed the railway between Sawyer's Bay and the Purakanui tunnel. Since the compietion of that contract Mr. Allen has resided at Port Chalmers, and has devoted his energies to the development of the Port Chalmers stone trade. He holds large interests in the Port Chalmers quarries, and also carries on pastoral and agrioultural pursuits on his farm in the Dunback district. Mr. Allen has always taken an actve part in public affairs. He was elected Mayor of Port Chalmers in 1884, and held office continuously for ten years. In 1893 page 83 he entered into the higher arena of politics by standing for Chalmers, but was defeated by Mr. J. A. Millar, by a small majority. Mr. Allen was re-elected Mayor of Port Chalmers in 1895. In 1896 he was elected by a large majority for Waikouaiti, when he defeated the previous member and three others. He was again elected in 1899 by the same district, with a majority of 332 over his opponent, Mr. J. White, solicitor. By the alterations of the electoral boundaries in 1902, the new Chalmers district included Chalmers, Otago Peninsula, North-East Valley, Musselburgh, and West Harbour; for this electorate Mr. Allen and Mr. John White were again pitted against each other, and Mr. Allen was returned by a majority of 612 votes. The Otago Dock Trust, of which Mr. Allen has been chairman for fifteen years, is one of the most important institutions in Port Chalmers, and has, in addition to its dry-docking business, somewhat extersive freezing works, which were established through Mr. Allen's advocacy. Mr. Allen has been continuously a member of the Otago Harbour Board since 1888, as one of the representatives of Port Chalmers. He has been chairman of the Port Chalmers District High School Committee, and president of various athletic clubs. Mr. Allen is married, and has one daughter and three sons. The eldest son is director of the School of Mines at Coromandel, the second, Dr Allen, B.Sc., is assistant superintendent of the Seacliff Asylum, and the youngest is an associate of the Otago School of Mines.

Mr. James Allen , B.A., M.H.R. J.P., member for the Bruce electorate, began his political career in 1887, when he defeated Sir Robert Stout, then Premier, for Dunedin East. In 1890 he stood for Dunedin city, in which his former electorate had been incorporated, but owing to the change in electoral divisons was defeated, though only by a narrow majority. In the following year, however, he was returned by Bruce, the representation of which had been resigned by Mr. Thomson, and since then he has continuously represented that district. Mr. Allen was born in South Australia in February, 1855, and was brought to New Zealand when he was two years of age. Four years later he was sent to England, where he was educated at private schools till 1869, and at Clifton College till 1874. At Clifton he gained a scholarship for natural science, and immediately afterwards entered Cambridge University, where he graduated B.A. in 1877. At the end of that year he sailed for Dunedi in the ship “Calypso,” and during the followig six years managed the property he was possessed of in the city and elsewhere. In 1884 he returned Home and spent the three subsequent years in studying at the Royal School of Mines, South Kensington, London, where he gained the Bessemer and De La Beche medals He has since turned this knowledge to practical account, as he is the largest shareholder in the Allandale coal company, and is extensively interested in gold mining. As a public man Mr. Allen has taken a keen interest in mining legislation, and education, and with respect to finance he is one of the keenest critics in the House of Representatives. He is also actively interested in literary work, as a frequent contributor to the daily papers upon current topics, and has written several pamphlets upon political problems; his latest production in this line being an instructive pamphlet upon the Cook Islands and neighbouring islands. He was a member of the Dunedin City Council for about two years, but resigned in 1884, when leaving for England. In earlier life Mr. Allen was a good all-round athlete. While at Cambridge he was an active oarsman and footballer, and he was captain of the Otago Football Club when, in the early eighties, it defeated New South the Canterbury team. He was at one time president of the Otago Rugby Union, and a member of the committee, and has been for many years president of the Albion Cricket Club. Mr. Allen is a churchwarden at All Saints', Dunedin. He was married, in 1877, to Miss Richards, of “Alford,” Somersetshire, England, and has three sons and three daughters.

Protected.Mr. James Allen. Fames Muir photo.

Protected.Mr. James Allen. Fames Muir photo.

Mr. Tame Parata represents the Southern Maori electorate in the House of Representatives. His biography is given on page 91 of the Canterbury volume of this work.