John Edie (1856 – 7 June 1928) was a Liberal Party Member of Parliament in the Otago region of New Zealand. He was a surveyor and an engineer, and also spent time as a farmer. He was Mayor of Lawrence.
John Edie | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Bruce | |
| In office 14 April 1920 – 7 December 1922 | |
| Preceded by | James Allen |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Clutha | |
| In office 7 December 1922 – 4 November 1925 | |
| Preceded by | Alexander Malcolm |
| Succeeded by | Fred Waite |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1856 Newcastle, New South Wales |
| Died | 7 June 1928 Lawrence, New Zealand |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Occupation | Engineer |
Early life
editEdie was born in Newcastle, New South Wales in 1856. He came to New Zealand as a child and attended school in Waitahuna near Lawrence.[1][2] He joined the survey department in 1873 and surveyed the Catlins River Branch railway line, but construction did not start until 1879.[1] In 1876, at age 20, he became assistant surveyor to the Government.[2]
He joined the Tuapeka County Council in 1885 as an engineer and remained in that position until 1919, when he resigned to stand in the 1919 election.[1]
Political career
edit| Years | Term | Electorate | Party | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1920–1922 | 20th | Bruce | Liberal | ||
| 1922–1925 | 21st | Clutha | Liberal | ||
In the 1896 election, Edie contested the Clutha electorate.[3] Before the election, he was criticised for standing for the Liberal Party, thus claiming to represent the working man, yet underpaying staff at his mine.[4] He was soundly beaten by the conservative incumbent, James Thomson.[5]
Edie contested the Bruce electorate in the 1919 election as a Liberal against the incumbent, Reform's James Allen. Edie was beaten by the small margin of 126 votes (2.15%).[6] After Allen's resignation in March 1920,[7] Edie won the Bruce electorate in a 1920 by-election.[8][9] At the time of the election, he was Mayor of Lawrence.[2]
In the 1922 general election he won the Clutha electorate, but lost Clutha in 1925 to the Reform candidate Fred Waite.[10]
Later life and death
editEdie was for a time captain of the Tuapeka Rifles.[11] He was into mining, especially gold mining, and had an interest in a mine at Island Block (a locality on State Highway 8 between Beaumont and Ettrick).[1] He shared an interest in a farm of 900 acres (360 ha) in Tuapeka West with two sons.[2][11]
Edie died on 7 June 1928 at Lawrence after having been bed-ridden with heart problems for six months.[11]
His son, Herbert Kerr Edie, unsuccessfully contested the 1935 and 1938 elections in the Clutha electorate as a Labour Party candidate against James Roy.[12][13][14]
Notes
edit- ^ a b c d Scholefield 1940, p. 227.
- ^ a b c d "The New Member". The Oamaru Mail. Vol. XLIV, no. 14033. 15 April 1920. p. 3. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
- ^ "Candidates for the General Election". The Evening Post. Vol. LII, no. 33. 2 July 1896. p. 5. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
- ^ "Mr John Edie's Candidature for Clutha". Clutha Leader. Vol. XXIII, no. 1165. 30 October 1896. p. 6. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
- ^ "The Elections". Hawera & Normanby Star. Vol. XXXIII, no. 3416. 7 December 1896. p. 2. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
- ^ The New Zealand Official Year-Book. Government Printer. 1920. Archived from the original on 1 September 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
- ^ Wilson 1985, p. 179.
- ^ "The Bruce Election". The Southland Times. No. 18805. 26 April 1920. p. 6. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
- ^ Wilson 1985, p. 194.
- ^ Wilson 1985, pp. 194, 242.
- ^ a b c "Mr John Edie". The Evening Post. Vol. CV, no. 134. 8 June 1928. p. 10. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
- ^ "How the votes were cast". The Evening Post. Vol. CXX, no. 130. 28 November 1935. p. 8. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
- ^ "General Election". The Evening Post. Vol. CXX, no. 10. 11 July 1935. p. 14. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
- ^ "The General Election, 1938". National Library. 1939. p. 2. Retrieved 8 February 2012.
References
edit- Scholefield, Guy, ed. (1940). A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography : A–L (PDF). Vol. I. Wellington: Department of Internal Affairs. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
- Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.