John Mason (New Zealand politician)

John Mason (26 September 1880 – 9 July 1975) was a New Zealand politician and lawyer. He was a Reform Party Member of Parliament in Hawke's Bay in the 1920s.

John Mason, ca 1930s

Biography edit

Born in Hastings in 1880,[1] Mason was a lawyer and was for a time in partnership with Matthew Oram.[2]

During World War I, Mason enlisted in the New Zealand Expeditionary Force in January 1916, and served overseas with the New Zealand Medical Corps, rising to the rank of temporary warrant officer class 1. He returned to New Zealand and was discharged in 1919.[1]

New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate Party
1925–1928 22nd Napier Reform

Mason contested the Napier electorate in the 1922 election for the Reform Party.[3] Of the four candidates, he came second to Labour's Lew McIlvride.[4]

He won the Napier electorate from McIlvride in the 1925 general election, but was defeated by Labour's Bill Barnard in 1928.[5]

In 1935, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.[6] Mason turned to local politics and served as a Napier City Councillor from 1941 to 1947.[7]

Mason died in Napier in 1975 and was buried in Wharerangi Cemetery, Napier.[8]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Mason, John – WW1 3/2126 – Army". Archives New Zealand. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  2. ^ Lundy, Jim. "Oram, Matthew Henry - Biography". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 17 August 2012.
  3. ^ "An Amazing Statement". Maoriland Worker. Vol. 12, no. 301. 6 December 1922. p. 3. Retrieved 19 December 2014.
  4. ^ Hislop, J. (1923). The General Election, 1922. Government Printer. p. 2. Retrieved 6 December 2014.
  5. ^ Scholefield, Guy (1950) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 (3rd ed.). Wellington: Govt. Printer. p. 125.
  6. ^ "Official jubilee medals". Evening Post. Vol. CXIX, no. 105. 6 May 1935. p. 4. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
  7. ^ Campbell, M.D.N. (1975). Story of Napier, 1874-1974. Napier: Martin Printing Company. p. 225.
  8. ^ "Cemetery database". Napier City Council. Retrieved 20 December 2014.
New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Napier
1925–1928
Succeeded by