Alex McLeod (politician)

Alexander Donald McLeod (13 July 1872 – 20 October 1938) was a Reform Party Member of Parliament in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand. He was Minister of Lands (1924–1928) and Industries and Commerce (1926–1928) in the Reform Government.

The Honourable
Alex McLeod
McLeod in 1922
9th Minister of Industries and Commerce
In office
24 May 1926 – 28 November 1928
Prime MinisterGordon Coates
Preceded byWilliam Downie Stewart Jr
Succeeded byAlexander Young
26th Minister of Lands
In office
25 June 1924 – 28 November 1928
Prime MinisterWilliam Massey
Francis Bell
Gordon Coates
Preceded byDavid Guthrie
Succeeded byKenneth Williams
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Wairarapa
In office
2 December 1931 – 27 November 1935
Preceded byThomas McDonald
Succeeded byBen Roberts
In office
17 December 1919 – 14 November 1928
Preceded byJ. T. Marryat Hornsby
Succeeded byThomas McDonald
Personal details
Born13 July 1872
Wairarapa, New Zealand
Died20 October 1938
Martinborough, New Zealand
Political partyReform
ProfessionFarmer

Early life

McLeod was born in the Wairarapa in 1872. He was the third son of William McLeod, one of the pioneers of the district. He became an apprentice on his father's farm and afterwards ran his own sheep farm. He was elected onto the Featherston Road Board and, when it was formed in 1902, the Featherston County Council. He remained on the county council until 1919.[1]

He had an adventurous streak in his youth and worked his way to travel to various countries around the world. This included a period in North America and while there took part in the Klondike Gold Rush.[2]

Member of Parliament
New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate Party
1919–1922 20th Wairarapa Reform
1922–1925 21st Wairarapa Reform
1925–1928 22nd Wairarapa Reform
1931–1935 24th Wairarapa Reform

McLeod won the Wairarapa electorate in the 1919 general election in a triangular contest, defeating the incumbent, J. T. Marryat Hornsby of the Liberal Party.[3] He worked closely with Prime Minister William Massey while the latter was ill with cancer and was added to the cabinet as Minister of Lands in 1924.[4] When Massey died in 1925 McLeod was one of several candidates named as a possible candidate to succeed Massey as party leader. During the caucus meeting which conducted the leadership ballot McLeod, having realised he had no realistic chance of winning, withdrew as a candidate. Ultimately Gordon Coates replaced Massey as leader.[5] In a reshuffle in 1926 Coates additionally appointed McLeod as Minister of Industries and Commerce.[6] McLeod promoted closer settlement of land and during his tenure in the lands portfolio there was a steady increase in the acreage of cultivated land. Critics of his thought the pace could have been increased.[7] He also allotted public land to help with resettlement of World War I veterans.[2] McLeod was the New Zealand government representative to Australia in May 1927 at the inauguration of the new Parliament House when the federal capital moved to Canberra.[1] At the 1928 he was defeated by Thomas William McDonald of the United Party.[8][9]

Just before the 1931 election, the United and Reform parties announced a coalition, following the collapse of an earlier coalition between United and Labour.[10] Part of the agreement was that all sitting members who support the coalition would in turn receive the official endorsement as coalition candidate. This pragmatic decision caused trouble in those electorates where the voters were not satisfied with the incumbent's performance, for example in the Wairarapa and Otaki electorates.[11] Local electorate committees were not supportive of McDonald and supported McLeod instead.[12][13] Consequently, McLeod stood as a Coalition Independent or Independent Reform candidate in 1931[14][15][16] and won the election with a 7% margin of the votes.[17] McLeod was a supporter of the coalition in the house.[18]

Back in parliament he was critical of the creation of the new "anti-socialist" Democrat Party in 1934. He was particularly critical of the presence of big donor money being behind the party. He made a speech in parliament about it and, under parliamentary privilege, named wealthy businessman William Goodfellow as being the funder of the party.[19] In 1935, McLeod was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.[20] He retired from politics in 1935.[8]

Later life

McLeod was a member of the Wellington Harbour Board (April 1919 – April 1921)[21] and the Wairarapa member of the Wellington Hospital Board.[22] He was a steward of the Wairarapa Racing Club.[1]

McLeod died at his home at Martinborough on 20 October 1938,[1] and was buried at Martinborough Cemetery.[23] He was survived by his wife and children,[1] his son Norman Murdoch McLeod having drowned while duck-shooting at Kahutara in 1936.[24][25]

Notes
  1. "Obituary". The Evening Post. Vol. CXXVI, no. 97. 21 October 1938. p. 10. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  2. Parliamentary Debates. Vol. 254. Wellington. 1939. p. 84.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  3. The New Zealand Official Year-Book. Government Printer. 1920. Archived from the original on 1 September 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
  4. Bassett 1995, p. 90.
  5. Bassett 1995, p. 92.
  6. Wilson 1985, pp. 78f.
  7. Bassett 1995, p. 136.
  8. Scholefield 1950, p. 124.
  9. Wilson 1985, pp. 214, 217.
  10. "Coalition Announced". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. LXVIII, no. 20982. 19 September 1931. p. 10. Retrieved 25 November 2014.
  11. "Hints of Trouble". The Evening Post. Vol. CXII, no. 106. 31 October 1931. p. 12. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  12. "Wairarapa Seat". The Evening Post. Vol. CXII, no. 102. 27 October 1931. p. 10. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  13. "Wairarapa Seat". The Evening Post. Vol. CXII, no. 120. 17 November 1931. p. 10. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  14. Bassett 1982, p. 67.
  15. Habershon 1958, pp. 122, 138.
  16. Wilson 1985, p. 217.
  17. The General Election, 1931. Government Printer. 1932. p. 5. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  18. "Wellington Contests". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. LXVIII, no. 21043. 30 November 1931. p. 11. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  19. Bassett 1995, p. 213.
  20. "King issues jubilee medals". Hawera Star. Vol. LIV, no. 105. 6 May 1935. p. 9. Retrieved 15 August 2021.
  21. "Ex-Members of Harbour Board". The Evening Post. Vol. CXXVI, no. 102. 27 October 1938. p. 22. Retrieved 14 November 2013.
  22. "The Next Parliament". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. LXVIII, no. 21046. 3 December 1931. p. 11. Retrieved 25 December 2014.
  23. "Funeral notices". The Evening Post. 21 October 1938. p. 1. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  24. "Accidental drowning". Auckland Star. 16 June 1936. p. 18. Retrieved 24 April 2016.
  25. "Many mourners". The Evening Post. 17 June 1936. p. 10. Retrieved 24 April 2016.

References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Alexander Donald McLeod.
  • Bassett, Michael (1982). Three Party Politics in New Zealand 1911–1931. Auckland: Historical Publications. ISBN 0-86870-006-1.
  • Bassett, Michael (1995). Coates of Kaipara. Auckland: Auckland University Press. ISBN 1-86940-117-4.
  • Habershon, R.G. (1958). A Study in Politics: 1928–31 (MA thesis). Auckland: University of Auckland.
  • Scholefield, Guy (1950) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 (3rd ed.). Wellington: Govt. Printer.
  • Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
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