Hon. J. McKenzie, (Minister of Lands),

Waihemo.

Hon. J. McKenzie, (Minister of Lands),

John McKenzie was born on the estate of Ardross, in the County of Ross, Scotland, in 1838, his father being a tenant farmer under Sir Alexander Matheson. He was educated at the Parish School, after leaving which, at the age of 15, he assisted on his father's farm, where he obtained a [unclear: ed] knowledge of both agricultural and pastoral pursuits. In September of the year 1860, he arrived in Otago. Early in the following year he went to Puketapu Station, Shag Valley, where he remained for four years. Then took land on his own account in the Shag Valley District, and has farmed in the same district ever since. Mr. McKenzie's first step in public life was taken upon his commencing the career of a settler, it being forced upon him by the necessity of a new settlement and the great want of roads, schools, and all the other requirements of a new settlement, and the colonising of the district. He was at this time elected a member of the original Bushey Road Board, and also elected a member of the first Palmerston School Committee. In 1871, he was elected for the Waihemo electorate the Otago Provincial Council, and continued to sit until abolition of the Provinces. About this time he was appointed a Justice of the Peace. At the first election of County Councillors under the Counties Act, was elected a member of the Waikouaiti County Council; subsequently he got the Waihemo County created, and was elected the first Chairman of the new County Council, and Continued to occupy that position until he retired through pressure of business as a member of the House. For 9 years was a member of the Otago Education Board, but resigned his seat on the Board upon his accession to the Ministry. He was also for a number of years a member of the Otago Land Board, but resigned on account of his disapproval of the administration of the land laws at that Mr. McKenzie first entered the political arena in 1881, when he was elected for Moeraki. He has held a seat ever since, notwithstanding that the electorate has been on various occasions changed: from Moeraki to Waihemo; from Waihemo to Waitaki. and from Waitaki to Waihemo; the electorate including at one time or another the whole of the Northern seaboard of Otago, extending as far Nor[unclear: th] Waitaki and as far South as Blueskin Bay, and now into the interior as far as Dunstan Range. Mr. McKenzie joined the Ballance Ministry in 1891, and has since held the portfolios of Minister of lards, Minister of Agriculture, Commissioner of State Forests, &c.

Votes recorded, 3268; on roll, 3886. Women on roll, 1357. of whom 1267 voted.