ROTORUA ELECTORATE.

Matamata Record, Volume III, Issue 155, 23 October 1919, Page 2

ROTORUA ELECTORATE.

No general election has been held for five years, and in the meantime the census has given the Auckland Province two new electorates—Mount Roskill and Rotorua. The former will he contested by the Mayor of Auckland, the latter by Mr. E. C. Banks, Chairman of the Auckland Education Board, who has been a dairy farmer at'Matamata for the' last 15 years. It is hoped that the new electorates will rise to the occasion and give to’the New Zealand Parliament two representatives worthy of tackling the present crisis.

It is the duty of the electors to select men capable not only of advancing the interests of their own constituency, but in materially assisting in solving the tremendous problems that confront humanity in the near future. It is not too much to say that the destiny of New Zealand lies in the wise selection of candidates at the next election. Men of proved capacity and worth should be chosen, if the nation is to he steered safely through the perils that confront her. Mr. Banks has proved himself. In whatever sphere of activity lie has been engaged, he lias been successful. He is associated with numerous public bodies and concerns that cull for energy, capacity and rectitude, and in all he has taken a leading part. Mr. Banks is New Zealand born, his parents coming to New Zealand from the North of Scotland in 18G0, and settling on a farm at Ashley, in North Canterbury, where Mr. Banks , waS born in 1870. He passed through the public school, the Rangiora High School, and Canterbury College. In order to get his education, he had to work hard on the farm dpving the summer months and go to school during the winter, taking political economy as one of his subjects at college. After being assistant-master in the Rangiora High School for one year, Mr. Banks entered the Education Department, Government Buildings, Wellington, where lie was entrusted with highly important and confidential work in connection with examinations for ten years. A.s part of his work be had charge of the whole of the Arithmetic Test Questions and Answers used by the Inspectors of Schools throughout New Zealand. In 1904 his wife’s health gave way, and he left the Civil Service. Mr. Seddon, who was then Minister for Education*, gave him three his jrrfhen Mr. Bank's settled in Matamata in 1904. he immediately took a leading part in local affairs, becoming almost at once Chairman of the School Committee, Member of the Road Board, President of the Farmers’ Union, and a leader in dairy factory matters. Ten years ago he became a member of the Auckland Education Board, and last year the members of the Board, recognising that they must have the right man in the chair for the over-increasing importance, of education, unanimously elected him Chairman of the Board. An immediate effect of his work was to get the grant for buildings increased to £400,000, and this year he is asking for a million pounds, and he is the kind oL man wlm generally gets what he wants. Four years ago he was selected from the whole of New Zealand as the sole representative of agriculture on the New Zealand Council of Education. One of the functions of the Council,is the establishment of District High Schools, and they have been established at Rotorua and Matamata, and the Council has authorised their establishment at Whakatane and Te Awamutu on February Ist next, Rotorua and Matamata have been provided with technical schools, and Mr. Banks hopes to establish technical schools at Whakatane and Te Awamutu .within the next year.

In farming matters, Mr. Banks has been breeding Holstein-Fresian milking cows for the last twelve yearß, and he has now one of the best and largest herds in the Dominion. He is an official judge, a member of the executive, and an ex-President of the New Zealand Fresian Cattle Breeders’ Association. He was chairman of the meeting of farmers at Matamata three years ago that decided, on his motion, to go in for a dried milk factory. He was the first president and is a member of the executive of the Matamata Farmers’ Union. He was for ten years a member of the executive of the Auckland Provincial Farmers’ Union, but had to give it up for want of time, when he -'became Chairman of the Education Board. He is a member of the executive of the Matamata A. and P. Association, and has taken his turn as president. At the last County Council election, Mr. Banks topped the poll. He is an ardent supporter of concrete and metal roads. Eight years ago Mr. Bunks was one of the promoters of the Waikato Farmers’ Bacon Co. ’three years ago, when the New Zealand Farmers’ Bacon Co. was formed, Mr. Banks became one of its lending directors. It is the largest Bacon Company south of the line, and is at present busy fighting the American Meat Trust. In 1913, Mr. Banks went to Auckland to help quell the revolutionary strike, and with Mr. Flanagan, of Drury, took charge of the Farmers’ Stores. When the farmers took possession of the town, the waitresses of the Tiffen Restaurant, in Queen Street, had been so threatened by the strikers, that they were afraid to go back to work, and Mr. Banks stayed

at the Tiffcn until they settled down. The various positions Mr. Banks has occupied, attest his signal capacity in dealing with problems connected with agriculture, with finance, and with education—three of the most important interests to the people of New Zealand.

Mr. Banks lias agreed that if he is elected he will resign the Chairmanship of the Auckland Education Board, and make the Rotorua electorate the centre of his public work, instead of Auckland. It has been said that the Rotorua electorate should have a member living nearer its centre that Mr. Banks, whose farm is situated one mile to the north of the electorate. However, as there are hundreds of electors living near Cambridge, Te Awamutu, and Matamata,. they have just as much right to have a member for the district living near to them as to anyone else. It is generally understood that before \standing for Parliament candidates should serve a successful apprenticeship on Local Bodies. There are about 40 members of County Councils and Town Boards in the electorate, and everyone has stood on one side, recognising that Mr. Banks has done more public work than they have.

Unquestionably, Mr. Banks would make an ideal representative for the Rotorua electorate. If lie is elected he will work whole-heartedly for the electorate of Rotorua, and for the Dominion of New Zealand. At a time of crisis such as exists to-day, men are required who have shown Unit they take a serious interest in the affairs of the community in which they live, and Mr. Banks’ record of public service is convincing proof of his untiring efforts injhe public welfare.