John Edie (New Zealand politician)

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 byJames Allen
Succeeded byConstituency abolished
Member of the New Zealand Parliament
for Clutha
In office
7 December 1922 – 4 November 1925
Preceded byAlexander Malcolm
Succeeded byFred Waite
Personal details
Born1856
Newcastle, New South Wales
Died7 June 1928
Lawrence, New Zealand
Political partyLiberal
OccupationEngineer

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][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
New Zealand Parliament
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

Edie 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
  1. Scholefield 1940, p. 227.
  2. "The New Member". The Oamaru Mail. Vol. XLIV, no. 14033. 15 April 1920. p. 3. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
  3. "Candidates for the General Election". The Evening Post. Vol. LII, no. 33. 2 July 1896. p. 5. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
  4. "Mr John Edie's Candidature for Clutha". Clutha Leader. Vol. XXIII, no. 1165. 30 October 1896. p. 6. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
  5. "The Elections". Hawera & Normanby Star. Vol. XXXIII, no. 3416. 7 December 1896. p. 2. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
  6. The New Zealand Official Year-Book. Government Printer. 1920. Archived from the original on 1 September 2014. Retrieved 2 August 2013.
  7. Wilson 1985, p. 179.
  8. "The Bruce Election". The Southland Times. No. 18805. 26 April 1920. p. 6. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  9. Wilson 1985, p. 194.
  10. Wilson 1985, pp. 194, 242.
  11. "Mr John Edie". The Evening Post. Vol. CV, no. 134. 8 June 1928. p. 10. Retrieved 17 November 2013.
  12. "How the votes were cast". The Evening Post. Vol. CXX, no. 130. 28 November 1935. p. 8. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
  13. "General Election". The Evening Post. Vol. CXX, no. 10. 11 July 1935. p. 14. Retrieved 16 November 2013.
  14. "The General Election, 1938". National Library. 1939. p. 2. Retrieved 8 February 2012.

References
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