John Edie (New Zealand politician) explained

John Edie
Constituency Mp1:Bruce
Parliament1:New Zealand
Term Start1:14 April 1920
Term End1:7 December 1922
Predecessor1:James Allen
Successor1:Constituency abolished
Constituency Mp2:Clutha
Parliament2:New Zealand
Term Start2:7 December 1922
Term End2:4 November 1925
Predecessor2:Alexander Malcolm
Successor2:Fred Waite
Birth Date:1856
Birth Place:Newcastle, New South Wales
Death Date:7 June 1928
Death Place:Lawrence, New Zealand
Party:Liberal
Occupation:Engineer

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.

Early life

Edie 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] He joined the survey department in 1873 and surveyed the Catlins River Branch railway line, but construction did not start until 1879. In 1876, at age 20, he became assistant surveyor to the Government.

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 .

Political career

In the, Edie contested the electorate.[2] 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.[3] He was soundly beaten by the conservative incumbent, James Thomson.[4]

Edie contested the 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%).[5] After Allen's resignation in March 1920, Edie won the Bruce electorate in a .[6] At the time of the election, he was Mayor of Lawrence.

In the 1922 general election he won the Clutha electorate, but lost Clutha in 1925 to the Reform candidate Fred Waite.

Later life and death

Edie was for a time captain of the Tuapeka Rifles. 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). He shared an interest in a farm of in Tuapeka West with two sons.

Edie died on 7 June 1928 at Lawrence after having been bed-ridden with heart problems for six months.[7]

His son, Herbert Kerr Edie, unsuccessfully contested the and s in the Clutha electorate as a Labour Party candidate against James Roy.[8] [9] [10]

References

Notes and References

  1. News: The New Member . 17 November 2013 . . 15 April 1920 . XLIV . 14033 . 3.
  2. News: Candidates for the General Election . 17 November 2013 . . 2 July 1896 . LII . 33 . 5.
  3. News: Mr John Edie's Candidature for Clutha . 17 November 2013 . Clutha Leader . 30 October 1896 . XXIII . 1165 . 6.
  4. News: The Elections . 17 November 2013 . Hawera & Normanby Star . 7 December 1896 . XXXIII . 3416 . 2.
  5. Book: The New Zealand Official Year-Book . 1920 . Government Printer . 2 August 2013 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20140901182637/http://www3.stats.govt.nz/New_Zealand_Official_Yearbooks/1920/NZOYB_1920.html#idsect1_1_40386 . 1 September 2014 . dmy-all .
  6. News: The Bruce Election . . 6 . 18805 . 26 April 1920 . 9 May 2020 .
  7. News: Mr John Edie . 17 November 2013 . . 8 June 1928 . CV . 134 . 10.
  8. News: How the votes were cast . 16 November 2013 . . 28 November 1935 . CXX . 130 . 8.
  9. News: General Election . 16 November 2013 . . 11 July 1935 . CXX . 10 . 14.
  10. Web site: The General Election, 1938 . National Library . 8 February 2012 . 2 . 1939.