THE ELECTIONS.

Taranaki Daily News, 18 December 1919, Page 6

THE ELECTIONS.

THE TARANAKI MEMBEfeS. . SKETCHES OF THEIR CAREERS. The following are brief sketches of the careers of the new Taranaki members of Parliament (in the case of the Stratford seat Mr. Masters is leading by 70 votes):— > MR. S. G. SMITH. Mr. Smith, who was born in 1870, is the seventh son of the late Mr. E. M. Smith, who represented the Taranaki district in Parliament for over thirteen years. Mr. Smith is essentially a New Plymouth boy, for he was educated here and has spent all his life here. Mr. Smith was elected to Parliament for the Taranaki district at the. by-election on October 10, 1918. His public activities beyond Parliament include: Member of Taranaki Education Board, memoer of New Plymouth High School Board of Governors, member of New /Plymouth Technical College Advisory Committee, president of Taranaki School Committees' Association, vice-president of Dominion Federation of School Committees, and chairman of Central (N.P.) District School Committee. For many years he was a prominent member of the various trades unions in the district. For over twenty years Mr. Smith was a member of the New Zealand railway service, and was several times elected to represent his district at Railway Conferences, and for a term was a member of the National Executive of the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants. MR. ROBERT MASTERS. Mr. Robert. Masters was born in Brunnerton, on the West Coast, in 1880. In 1884 he came to Stratford and assisted his father in conducting a business which is now known under the name of Masters and, Co., Lid. Mr. Masters was educated at the Greymouth Public School. Since coming to- Stratford he has identified himself with many organisations. He was chairman of directors for the Stratford Electrical Supply Company till the works were taken over by the municipality, and is at the present time chairman of directors for the A.W.R. Milking Machine Company. He is managing director of Masters, Ltd., and a director of the Picture Amusements Company. Mr. Masters first entered public life when he secured a seat on the Education Board against Mr. W. D. Anderson in 1912. He was re-elected unopposed two years later, and two years after that, when the Taranaki Education Board District was enlarged, he topped the poll. He was immediately afterwards elected chairman, a position he has held ever since. He has been identified with the A. and P. Association since its inception, and for a term was president. He was one of the prime movers in the establishment of the Stratford Model Dairy Farm, which is an admitted success. He is Government nominee on the Repatriation Board, and a member of the executive of the Chamber of Commerce. MR. W. T. JENNINGS.

Mr. W. T. Jennings has for many years sat in Parliament and for most of the time has represented the scattered Taumarunui electorate. Born in Auckland in 1854, Mr. Jennings was educated in Auckland and Dunedin, and for a number of years he was: cohnected with newspaper enterprises in both these cities. In 1892 he was appointed a member of the Legislative Council and sat for ten years, resigning in 1902 to contest the Egmont seat. He was: elected and was again returned in 1905, but in 1910, standing for Taumarunui, Mr. Jennings was defeated. But in 1914 the electors again rallied to their old friend and sent him to Parliament again to represent Taumarunui. Owing to the alterations In boundaries the electorate is now known as the Waitomo seat, but it comprises: the greater part of the district formerly represented by Mr. Jennings. Mr. Jennings has had many years' ser- j vice on public bodies in Auckland, Dunedin and Taranaki, and in his earlier days he was a prominent volunteer. MR. 0. HAWKEN. Mr. Hawken wag born in South Taranaki in 1870, where his parents were amongst the first settlers. Mr. Hawken has followed farming in Taranaki for many years. He was a member of the Patea County Council for some years, a member of the Egmont A, and P. Association, and he has served on other public bodies. Mr. Hawken is at present a Taranaki member of the Board of Agriculture. Mft-W: D. POWDRELL. . Mr. W. D. Powdrtll was born in Waifoa, Hawkc's Bay, in 1§72, and, coming to Taranaki when a boy, he was educated at the Kakaramea and Patea public schools. He has been engaged in farming all his life between Patea and Manaia. Mr. Powdrell has always been intimately associated with public affairs and has been connected with many progressive movements in South Taranaki. Amongst other positions he was chairman and managing director of the Kau'pokonui Dairy Company for ten years and a director for seven years before that, a director of ■ the Whenuakura Dairy Company for eight years, chairman and managing director of the Patea Farmers' Freezing Co-op. Company for ten years, advisory manager for the Whakatane Freezing Company Farmers' Co-op. for four years, a director of the N.Z. Farmers' Bacon and Meat Packing Co-op. Company for three years, a director of the N.Z. Rennett Company, a director of the Taranaki Farmer; ' Co-op. Organisation, a director of the Egmont Box Company, one of the Government nominees on the Efficiency Board, president of the Prohibition League, Te K\ti and Wanganui, a director of the Taranaki Farmers' Mutual Fire, and a director, until he recently resigned, of the Wairoa Farmers' Freezing Company.