Seven National Nominees For Hurunui

Press, Volume C, Issue 29513, 13 May 1961, Page 13

Seven National Nominees For Hurunui

Seven nominees will appear before the Hurunui electorate committee of the National Party in Rangiora next Tuesday for the selection of the party’s candidate for the Parliamentary by-election on June 3 to fill the vacancy in the House of Representatives caused by the death of Mr W. H. Gillespie. Delegates from all branches within the electorate will attend the meeting. The nominees will each have 10 minutes in which to address the meeting, and will then be open to questions. Those who will contest the selection are:—

Mr W. F. Ashe, aged 53. a farmer, of Okuku. Mr Ashe has been a member of the National Party since it was formed in 1936. He went to the Okuku area to live in 1917. and in 1942 bought his present property in Flaxton. In 1956 he bought an additional 1000 acres at Okuku for development as a sheep farm. He was a member of the Eyre County Council for six years, and is a member of the Ashley Rabbit Board. Mr Ashe has had a long association with the Rangiora High School, at which he was a pupil. He was chairman of the school's parentteacher organisation. has served Sve terms on the high school board as a former pupil’s representative, and was chairman of the board at one time. He was chairman of the school jubilee committee in 1959. Mr Asbe has been a member of Federated Farmers since its inception, and was a member of the Farmers’ Union before that. During the Second World War he was chairman of the Ohoka and Districts Primary Production Committee.

Mr VV. M. Dailey, aged 56. a farmer, of Oxford. Mr Dailey has been a member of the Oxford County Council for 17 years and its chairman since 1947. except for three years from 1950 when he declined nomination in favour of Mr Gillespie. After being secretary of the Oxford branch of the Farmers’ Union, Mr Dailey became the first president of the district branch of Federated Farmers'. He represents the Oxford County Council on the WaimakaririAshley Hydatid Eradication Committee. He is chairman of the Oxford Domain Board: deputy-chairman of the Oxford Benevolent and Improvement League: and was chairman of the Oxford centennial celebrations committee in 1950.

Mr Dailey has been a Justice of the Peace since 1952. and is a member of the No. 14 District Roads Council.

As well as farming, he had other business interests in Oxford until three years ago, when he sold two shops he operated. At the time he also sold two blocks he was farming, but retained the block he took up in 1932. Mr J. A. G. Fulton, aged 35. a farmer of Loburn; Mr Fulton’s family has been connected with the district since the early days of the settlement. He was educated at Christ’s College, where he had a distinguished sporting career, captaining the First XI and the First XV. Later he played both rugby and cricket in North Canterbury and retained his interest in both sports in the administrative field. He served a term on the Rangiora High School’s Board of Governors, and Is still a member of the board’s farm advisory com. inittee. A former chairman of the Sefton and districts branch of Federated Farmers. Mr Fulton is a member of the general committees of both the Canterbury and Northern Agricultural and Pastoral Associations. He is a member of the Ashley Rabbit Board, and a past chairman: secretary of the Loburn Collie Club and a former chairman of the Canterbury centre of the New Zealand Sheep Dog Trials Association: a vicepresident of the North Canterbury Racing Club; and a steward of the Canterbury Jockey Club. Mr C. N. Mackenzie, aged 45. a farmer, of Motunau. Mr Mackenzie was bom in Balclutha and educated at the Romahapa School and the Gore Primary School before attending Christ’s College. Just before the Second World War, Mr Mackenzie was the first chairman of the Scargill-Otnihi Young Farmers’ Club. During the war he served In the Army in New Zealand and later as a pilot with the Royal New Zealand Air Force in the Pacific.

He was president of the Cheviot Agricultural and Pastoral Association in 194748 and a member of the Motunau Rabbit Board from 1948 to 1954. A member of the North Canterbury Nassella Tussock Board from 1949 to 1951, Mr Mackenzie served as its chairman. In 1956 he was awarded a Nuffield farming scholarship to study farming in the United Kingdom. Mr Mackenzie has been a member of the Wiapara County Council since 1947, and its chairman from 1952. He was chairman of Ward 11 of the New Zealand Counties Association in 1959 and 1960, and a member of the association’s executive. Mr H L. Pickering, aged 42. a farmer, of Motunau Beach.

Mr Pickering is best known for his broadcasting in the farmers’ "Country Session" and “Home Paddock" from 3YA.

He was brought up on a backblocks farm and educated at Marlborough College before going tn Canterbury University College and the Teachers’ Training College.

He joined the Royal New Zealand Air Force early in the Second World War, trained as a pilot and spent six years in uniform including two tours of duty overseas. Mr Pickering has taken an active interest in the National Party at branch, electorate and division level, serving for six years on the Canterbury division's policy committee. Other interests have included the Returned Services Association, the Air League parent-teacher organisation, the economic and agriculture committees of the Canterbury Chamber of Commerce. Federated Farmers, the Canterbury Farm training Council, the Economic Society of Australia and New Zealand and Heritage. Last November, Mr Pickering was the National candidate in the Labour stronghold of Avon, where there was one of the biggest swings against Labour. Mr D. F. Quigley, aged 29, a farmer of Waipara. Mr Quigley contested the Sydenham seat for the

National Party at the General Election last year. He was born in Waipara and bought his own farm in the district in 1957. He was educated at Medbury School and Christ’s College. Mr Quigley has been an active worker in the Young Farmers’ Club movement, and in 1955 went to Britain and the United States on a Meat and Wool Board scholarship. He has had five years’ commissioned service with the Territorial Force. Mr Quigley is secretary of the South Island branch of the Suffolk and South Suffolk Sheep Breeders’ Society. His National Party work has included representation as a divisional delegate of the Hurunui electorate committee of the Party.

Mr W. W. Wood, aged 38. a land agent and bookseller, of Rangiora. Mr Wood is a former farmer, having owned a Fernside property before developing his commercial interests in Rangiora. Earlier he had several businesses in Oamaru. During the Second World War, Mr Wood served in the Royal New Zealand Air Force as a fighter pilot overseas, and from 1944 to 1958 kept his interest in the Air Force by serving with the Air Training Corps in Oamaru and Rangiora. He is vice-chairman of the Rangiora High School ParentTeacher Association and a former chairman of the Femside School Committee and parent-teacher association. He was a member of the committee of the Rangiora branch of the National Party for three years, is a member of the Rotary Club, the Rangiora Businessmens’ Association and Federated Farmers.