| Hiram Hunter | |
| Office1: | Christchurch City Councillor |
| Term Start1: | 1911 |
| Term End1: | 1915 |
| Term Start2: | 1917 |
| Term End2: | 1923 |
| Office3: | 2nd President of the Social Democratic Party |
| Term Start3: | 1914 |
| Term End3: | 1915 |
| Vicepresident3: | Frederick Cooke |
| Predecessor3: | Edward Tregear |
| Successor3: | Frederick Cooke |
| Birth Date: | 10 February 1874 |
| Birth Place: | Christchurch, New Zealand |
| Death Date: | 9 May 1966 |
| Death Place: | Ashburton, New Zealand |
| Spouse: | Jane Bayliss |
| Party: | Labour (1910–13) Social Democratic (1913–16) Labour (1916–31) National (1938–66) |
Hiram Hunter (10 February 1874 – 9 May 1966) was a New Zealand politician and trade unionist.
Born in Christchurch in 1874, Hunter was a farmer, storekeeper, carter, and trade unionist.
Hunter stood for the Christchurch East electorate in the New Zealand House of Representatives in for the Labour Party (original), for the Social Democratic Party and for the New Zealand Labour Party. His best result was losing by 136 votes in 1911 in a close three-way contest, and failing to qualify for the subsequent run-off election by just four votes. He was President of the LRC (1911–1913) and of the Social Democratic Party (1913–1915). In, he contested the Mid-Canterbury electorate as an Independent Labour candidate against Jeremiah Connolly, but was unsuccessful.
During the 1930s, Hunter became increasingly disillusioned with the NZ Labour Party and argued that: "We have learned much of socialisation through its application in Russia. The result has been servility for the workers under the domination of dictators and, what seemed a book of beautiful ideal in 1915 has turned out to be in practice, a horrible reality".[1] In 1938 he stood for the conservative National Party against his former Labour comrade Dan Sullivan who beat him by a three to one margin, with the election-night crowd booing him so loudly his speech could not be heard leaving Hunter with an undignified end to his public career.
Hiram Hunter was a member of the Christchurch City Council for ten years (1911–1915; 1917–1923).[2]
Hunter died in 1966 at Ashburton.
. Barry Gustafson . Labour's path to political independence: the origins and establishment of the NZ Labour Party 1900–1919 . Auckland, New Zealand . Auckland University Press . 1980 . 0-19-647986-X .