M.L.C.'S AND M.H.R.'S

The Hon.WILLIAM DOWNIE STEWART

Mr. MACKAY JOHN SCOBIE MAC­KENZIE

Mr. JOHN ANDREW MILLAR

Mr. JAMES ALLEN

Hon. THOMAS FERGUS

Mr. HENRY SMITH FISH

Mr. JAMES GORE

Mr. WILLIAM HUTCHISON

Sir. DONALD REID

Mr. HUGH SUTHERLAND VALENTINE

The Hon.WILLIAM DOWNIE STEWART, M.L.C., was born at Blairdrummond, near Stirling, Scotland, on the l5th of May, 1842 He studied law for some time in Scotland, and came out to the Colony when nineteen years of age, entering the office of Messrs. Richmond and Gillies in Dunedin in 1862. In 1864 Mr. Stewart became a pupil of the present Chief Justice, Sir James Prendergast, who was then in practice in Dunedin, and, on the appointment of the latter as Attorney-General of the Colony, he was admitted in June, 1867, as a barrister and solicitor. He then began and has since con­tinued the practice of his profession. In 1879 Mr. Stewart was elected a member of the House of Representatives for Dunedin, and, on the defeat of the Grey Administra­tion, again stood for Dunedin, and was re­turned a second time in the same year. He contested the Dunedin West seat at the election of 1880 against the Hon. Thos. Dick, but was defeated by eight votes. In 1884, however, he reversed matters, being returned by a small majority over the same opponent, and three years later he was successful in securing re-election, Mr. Dick again contested the same seat with him. Mr. Stewart was in 1891 called to the Legislative Council, this being the last life appointment made by Lord Onslow, and he is still a member of that body. In 1879 he was offered but de­clined the office of Attorney-General in the Grey Administration. Mr. Stewart in 1875 visited Britain, travelling through the United States, where he made a special study of the laws of various states; on his return to this colony he delivered a lecture to the Otago Law Students’ Society on “English and American Law.” This lecture, which was republished in the States, suggested a num­ber of legal reforms, most of which have since become law. Mr. Stewart advocated a code of procedure, and that the costs of an action should be fixed according to a scale; that prisoners should be allowed to give evidence on their own behalf, and that a prisoner in poor circumstances should have a right to counsel paid by the State; that confessions made to clergymen and commu­nications made to physicians should be privileged; that the rate of interest should be fixed; that there should be a Con­tractors’ Lien Act; that the legal status of married women should be altered? That a betterment law should be passed; the abo­lition of primogeniture; and the fusion of law and equity. In 1879 he introduced a Bill to enable a woman to whom unchastity was imputed to bring an action for slander with­out proof of special damage. This reform has since been carried in England and Vic­toria. In 1885 he carried the Evidence Amendment Act, by which the Courts were entitled to take judicial notice of the laws of foreign countries, and under which an action for seduction may be brought without proof of loss of service. In 1879 he carried an Act by which deeds could be proved in the Magistrate’s Court, without calling the attesting witness. This alteration of the law has proved a great benefit, and is re-enacted by section 89 of the “Magistrate’s Court Act, 1893.” In 1884 he carried an Act making the publication of a false notice of births, deaths, and marriages in a newspaper punishable by fine or imprisonment, and in the following year an amendment by which acknowledg­ment of deeds by married women was abol­ished, and an amendment in the “Adminis­tration Act, 1885,” by which executors and administrators may resign or be removed. After the maritime strikes of 1890 the lion, gentleman prepared and carried to a second reading a Strikes and Arbitration Bill, the first proposal of the kind in the colonies to provide a means of settlement of differences between employer and employed. This Bill was the basis of the Industrial and Con­ciliation Act, passed in 1894 by the Seddon Ministry, which is now in force. In 1891 he carried several important amendments in the law relating to trustees. Mr. Stewart supported the extension of the franchise to women, advocates protection for a young colony, and the reading of the Bible in public schools. In 1883 he again visited the United States and Canada. He takes an active interest in all legal and social reforms. Mr. Stewart was married in 1868 to the youngest daughter of the late Mr., George Hepburn of Waikari, Canterbury, who died ten years later, leaving two sons and two daughters. One daughter has recently passed her art examination at. Oxford. He married In 1881 Miss Mary Thomson, youngest daughter of Mr. John Thomson, formerly Provost. of Irvine, Ayrshire, Scotland.

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Mr. MACKAY JOHN SCOBIE MAC­KENZIE, Senior Member of the House of Representatives for Dunedin City, was born in 1845 at Tain, Ross-shire, Scotland, and was educated at the Tain Royal Academy, and at the John Watson’s Institution—a sort of Scotch Bluecoats’ school—In Edinburgh. Mr. MacKenzie came out to the Colony of Vic­toria in 1861, and in the following year ‘formed one of the first party that started with sheep, with the intention of crossing the continent to the Gulf of Carpentaria. Financial disaster, however, overtook the expedition, and resulted in its abandonment. He was then for nine years engaged in pastoral pursuits, chiefly as overseer on a station near Lake Hindmarsh, and after­wards became manager of an estate near Camperdown, in the western district of Vic­toria. Having been engaged to take over the management of a station, Mr. MacKenzie arrived in Otago in January, 1870, and five years later acquired the Kyeburn station, Maniototo, which he still owns. He has for many years been prominent as a politician, his first appearance in public life being as a member of the Maniototo county council In 1882, of which he subsequently became chair­man. Two years afterwards Mr. MacKenzie was returned to the House of Representa­tives for the constituency of Mt. Ida, and was re-elected for the same seat in 1887 and 1890. He was defeated at the general elec­tion of 1893, owing to the Waihemo district, which had for some time been represented by the Hon. J. MacKenzio, being joined to his electorate. Immediately afterwards he suffered defeat at a bye-election for Tuapeka. In 1896, however, Mr. MacKenzie was returned as senior member for Dunedin City, his majority being 1,041 above the second member; the total number of votes polled for him was over 7,800, the largest at any election in the Colony. Although liberal and individualistic in politics, he has been classed with the so-called “Conservative” party. Mr. MacKenzie is engaged generally in journalism. He was married in 1870 to the only daughter of the Hon. Sir F. Dillon Bell, and has three sons and two daughters.

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Mr. JOHN ANDREW MILLAR, M.H.R. for Dunedin City, was born in 1855 in Julinder, India, and was educated at the Southern Academy in Edinburgh. Brought up to a sea-faring life, he made many voyages between the Colonies and England during a period of ten years, and was for seven years subsequently either an officer or master of steamers trading on the New Zealand coast. He settled in Dunedin in 1887, and became well known as secretary of the federated seamen’s union and maritime labour council till his entry into the political arena, when he resigned those positions. He took a leading part in trades-union matters for some two years, and it will be remembered that he had full control of the great maritime strike of 1890, which, though unsuccessful, exercised a considerable in­fluence in the consolidation of the present Labour party; it is claimed also that the strike was the primary cause of the “one-ma n-one-vote” legislation of 1890. Mr. Millar was elected to the House of Representatives for Port Chalmers in 1893, and Dunedin City three years later. Since 1892, he has been a member of the board of trustees of the Otago dock. Mr. Millar was married in 1892 to a daughter of the late Mr. James Ross, of Lisneskia, Ireland, and has two sons and a daughter.

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Mr. JAMES ALLEN, B.A., M.H.R. for Bruce, hails from South Australia, where he was born in 1855. He was educated at Clifton and St. John’s Colleges. Cambridge, at the latter of which he gained his B.A. degree in 1877; Mr. Alien came to Dunedin in the same year in the ship “Calypso.” Seven years later he returned to England, and, during a stay extending over three years, studied at the school of mines, South Ken­sington, London, and gained the Bessemer and De La Beche medals. Mr. Alien has for many years been largely interested in mining as a director of the Allendale coal company— of which he is chairman—and as a director of the Jutland Flat gold mining company. In educational matters he has likewise been prominent, having been a member of Otago university council since 1877, and for three years a governor of the Dun: din high school board. Mr. Alien made a triumphal entry into parliamentary life in 1887, defeating the Hon. Sir R. Stout for Dunedin East, but was rejected by the Labour party at the general election of 1890. At a bye-election in the succeeding year he was elected for Bruce, which constituency he has since con­tinuously represented. Mr. Alien was married in 1877 to a daughter of Mrs. Richards, of Somersetshire, England, and has three sons and three daughters.

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Hon. THOMAS FERGUS, who was a mem­ber of the House of Representatives for Wakatipti in the years 1881-93, and is more fully referred to in the Wellington Volume of the “Cyclopedia,” pages 83-4, is very closely associated with local institutions in Dunedin. He has been many years a mem­ber of the committee of the Agricultural and Pastoral Society. He was one of the originators of the Agricultural Hall, and has been chairman of the committee since its inception. Mr. Fergus took a prominent part in connection with the Otago Jubilee Exhibition, and is vice-president and chair­man of the executive and general committees. He has been a member of the Dunedin Jockey club for many years, and had a seat on the education board for a lengthened period. He is also a director of several local com­panies, notably the New Zealand Minerals company, Kaitangata Railway and coal company, Standard Five and Marine Insurance company, and is chairman of directors of the Hartley and Riley Dredging company, Bakery Flat Hydraulic Sluicing company (Waipori), Moonlight No. 2 Hydraulic Sluic­ing company (Wakatipu), and many others.

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Mr. HENRY SMITH FISH represented South Dunedin during the years 1881-4 and 1887-90, and was one of the members of the House of Representatives for the City of Dunedin in 1890-3, being again returned in 1896. Mr. Fish was born in London in 1838, and until ten years of age, attended school in Uxbridge, then going with his parents to South Australia, where the family remained till 1851. After a short experience on the Ovens diggings in Victoria, Mr. Fish senr. went into business as painter and paper-hanger in Melbourne, his son the subject of this notice, being his apprentice. Since 1807, Mr. Fish junr. was prominent in local politics; he was elected in that year a member of the City Council, in which he sat for a number of years, and was chief magistrate for the years 1870-1-2-8, and for 1893-4-5. During his entire career in con­nection with the council he was most active in promoting such matters as the widening of Princes Street south, and the acquire­ment of the water and gas works. Mr. Fish was also an active member of the provincial council of Otago, and of the Otago harbour board. In the M.F. Order of Oddfellows he took a keen interest, being provincial grand master in 1878. In Freemasonry he was a past master of Lodge Dunedin and provincial grand secretary, and afterwards deputy provincial grand master of the dis­trict. In mutters of recreation he was an active member of the old Citizens’ cricket club, and was vice-president of the Dunedin amateur boating club. Mr. Fish was married in 1838 to a daughter of the late Mr. John Carr, of Launceston, and died on the 23^rd of September, 1897, leaving a widow, two sons and six daughters.

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Mr. JAMES GORE. who represented the City of Dunedin in the House of Represen­tatives during the years 1884-7, is a Lancashire man, and was born in Liverpool, where he was educated at private schools. His father, Mr. Hugh Gore, emigrated with his family to Victoria in 1852. and the sub­ject of this notice remained in that Colony for several years, during which time he was engaged with his father on Government contracts, chiefly road construction and bridge building. He came to Otago in 1861, settling in Dunedin, where also he followed a similar business, and afterwards undertook building contracts. He has long been prominent as a politician, entering the city council as mem­ber for South Ward in 1877, and was elected • to the civic chair in 1881. Since the close of his year of office as mayor, he has con­tinued to take part in the government of the city as a councillor. Mr. Gore was the chair­man of the first licensing committee for High Ward, and was a member of the first South Ward committee. In Masonry, he belongs to the Otago Kilwinning Lodge S.C., and holds office as Grand Master for New Zealand South district.

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Mr. WILLIAM HUTCHISON, who has long been prominent as a politician and jour­nalist in New Zealand, hails from Banff-shire. Scotland, having been born in the parish of Bellie in 1820. He was educated in his native place and in Inverness, .and chose journalism as his profession. Mr, Hutchison came out to Auckland In 1886—the year after the transfer of the seat of government to Wellington—under engage­ment with Messrs. Creighton and Scales, proprietors of the “Southern Cross¹’ news­paper. A few months after his arrival he was appointed to the editorship of the “Wanganui Chronicle,” which paper he con­ducted for about nine years. Mr. Hutchison first entered political life as representative of Wangauui in the Wellington provincial council, in the deliberations of which body he took active part for some years. He left Wanganui (where he occupied the Mayoral Chair of the borough) for the “Empire City” in 1874, and founded a daily paper called the “Tribune”—which he successfully conducted for four years, when he disposed of the journal to the late Sir. E. T. Gillon and others. During his residence in Wellington Mr. Hutchison became mayor of the city, and was returned to the House of Repre­sentatives in 1879 as member for that con­stituency, retaining the seat till 1882; in that year lie was elected for Wellington South, for which he sat for two years. He removed to Dunedin in 1884, and has since engaged in his profession in the “Edinburgh of New Zealand.” As one of the members for Dunedin City from 1800 to 1806 Mr. Hutchison will long be remembered; though defeated at the general election of 1896. he occupied a very creditable position on the poll, and, at the bye-election in the follow­ing year, would probably have been elected but for the fact of a third party entering the contest. Mr. Hutchison was married on the 12^th of August. 1846. to Miss Helen Aicheson, of Inverness, and has four daughters and four sons. The latter are well known: George, the eldest, is member of the House of Representatives for Patea; Thomas is stipendiary magistrate at Auck­land; William is in the “Press” office Christchurch, and the youngest is in the office of the “Otago Daily Times,”

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Mr. JAMES MACANDREW was one of the most prominent and popular of New Zealand politicians, some particulars of whose political career are given on page 78 of the Wellington volume of the “Cyclopedia of New Zealand”; he was familiarly known as “the burly member for Port Chalmers.” Many years before Mr. (after Sir) Julius Vogel arrived in New Zealand, Mr. Macandrew used to astonish the old identities of Dunedin by his energy in advocating go-ahead schemes of steamers, tunnels, rail­ways, telegraphs, and other startling pro­posals. He was laughed at in the House of Representatives at Wellington for suggesting the advisability of encouraging direct steam communication with the Old Country. Those who look back at the events of the last decade will agree that Mr. Macandrew displayed an amount of fore-thought and shrewdness which few men possess. After his death in 1887, a meeting of citizens was convened by the mayor of Dunedin, at which it was resolved to raise by public subscription a sum of money for the pur­pose of providing a memorial to Mr. Macandrew’s memory. Over £700 was sub­scribed, and it was decided to devote £.100 for the establishment of a Macandrew’s scholarship at the university of Otago, and the balance for the erection of a suitable monument. The statue was placed at the northern corner of the Triangle, and is in the form of a half-life size marble bust mounted on a handsome pedestal of Waikawa stone, bearing the inscription “In memory of James Macandrew, late member of the House of Representatives, and formerly Superintendent of the Province of Otago. Born 1810, died 1887. Erected by public subscription in recognition of his public services.” It was unveiled on the 4^th of July, 1891.

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Sir. DONALD REID, one of Otago’s earliest settlers and best known men, repre­sented the Taieri constituency in the House of Representatives from 1866 to 1878. He was born on the 16^th of July, 1833, at Newton Farm, Strathtay, Perthshire, Scotland, and was educated at Burns’ Academy, Edin­burgh, and at Daniel Stewart’s endowed school, Strathtay. Mr. Reid sailed from London for New Zealand in October, 1848, In the ship “Mary.” and, after calling at the ports of Nelson, Taranaki, and Wellington, arrived at Port Chalmers on the 10^th of April, 1849. In 1853, he bought and com­menced to farm the land now occupied by the Benevolent Institution at Caversham; he also owned about 180 acres of swamp land adjoining—and which now forms the suburbs of St. Kilda and South Dnnedin. Three years later Mr. Reid sold out of these lands, and in 1857 settled on the “Salisbury Farm” at Taieri, which he still occupies. On the out­break of the gold diggings in 1801, he, in conjunction with his farm hands, took up a claim at Gabriel’s Gully, which proved a very successful venture. Shortly afterwards he commenced carrying stores for the miners with teams of oxen, making one trip per week by way of Maungatua and Waipori, at a freight charge of £100 per ton for the first few trips. In the early days of the Colony Mr. Reid took an active part in all public matters, and served continuously on road boards, school committees, etc. In 1858 he was one of the wardens of the Taieri hundred. He was elected in 1803 one of the three members representing the Taieri district in the Otago provincial council, and in 1869 became provincial secretary and treas­urer, which offices he held until the provinces were abolished in 1876. Mr. Reid also repre­sented the Taieri constituency in the House of Representatives from 1866 to 1878, and was a prominent supporter of the Stafford administration. He took an active part in passing the land resolutions of 1866 in the provincial council, and assisted in carrying the “Land Act 1866” through the General Assembly. In 1871 Mr. Reid contested the superintendency of Otago with Mr. Macandrew, the then Superintendent, on the question of a more liberal laud policy, but, owing to the preponderance of voting power in the cities, was defeated, the actual voting being:—Macandrew, 3,242; Reid, 2.050. In 1872 Mr. Reid introduced and carried through the provincial council new land regulations providing for the first time for the sale of land in Otago on deferred payments, and carried the “Land Act 1872” through parlia­ment. In the same year he held the portfolio of public works in Sir E. W. Stafford’s administration. After the abolition of the provinces in 1876, Mr. Reid was Minister of lands and public works in Sir H. Atkinson’s government, and introduced and carried through parliament the first general land act, which consolidated into one statute the nine different provincial land laws and ordinances, and extended the system of de­ferred payments to Southland and Canter­bury. Mr. Reid was one of the first mem­bers of the Otago harbour board, and took an active part in the deliberations of that body for many years, zealously promoting the scheme for deepening the Dunedin channel so that all vessels entering the port might come to the city wharves. His long and honourable political career was brought to a close in 1878 when Mr. Reid definitely retired from public life, and commenced the business of auctioneer and stock and station agent which has now developed into a large concern. He was married in 1854 to Frances, eldest daughter of Mr. John Barr, of Mavis Bank, but this lady died in 1868. He was again married in 1875 to Sarah Gordon, relict of the Rev. E. Price, late of New South Wales. Of the first marriage two sons and four daughters survive, and one daughter of the second marriage. His sons are Mr. Donald Reid, solicitor, and Mr. Charles S. Reid. stock-salesman to the firm of Messrs. D. Reid and Co., both of Dunedin.

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Mr. HUGH SUTHERLAND VALENTINE, who represented the Waikaia electorate in the House of Representatives during the years 1887-90, and sat for the constituency of Tuapeka from 1890 to 1803, was born in Aberdeen. He is a well known business man, having been managing director and general manager of the New Zealand Agri­cultural Company for fifteen years. Mr. Valentine is largely interested in station pro­perties in Southland, and for several years conducted a stock and station agency business in the Gore district; this he re­linquished for family reasons, removing to Dunedin in 1896. Commencing business as an auctioneer in the Central auction rooms in High Street, he soon found the premises too small, and removed to the commodious brick building now occupied by him in Manse Street, reference to which is made in another part of this volume. Mr. Valentine retired from political life at the general election of 1893. Three years later, however, he con­tested Wallace against Mr. Gilfedder, the sitting member, and three other candidates. As a volunteer, Mr. Valentine was captain of the Gore Rifles and chief of the Otago staff, under Colonel Wales. during the St. Andrews’ encampment so successfully carried out some years ago. Mr. Valentine Is a life-fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, also of the Royal Colonial Institute, London Chamber of Commerce, and other important societies in the Old Country.

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