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Rex Mason

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Rex Mason
Mason in 1950
17th Attorney-General
In office
6 December 1935 – 13 December 1949
Prime MinisterMichael Joseph Savage
Peter Fraser
Preceded byGeorge Forbes
Succeeded byClifton Webb
In office
12 December 1957 – 12 December 1960
Prime MinisterWalter Nash
Preceded byJack Marshall
Succeeded byRalph Hanan
30th Minister of Justice
In office
6 December 1935 – 13 December 1949
Prime MinisterMichael Joseph Savage
Peter Fraser
Preceded byJohn Cobbe
Succeeded byClifton Webb
In office
12 December 1957 – 12 December 1960
Prime MinisterWalter Nash
Preceded byJack Marshall
Succeeded byRalph Hanan
18th Minister of Health
In office
12 December 1957 – 12 December 1960
Prime MinisterWalter Nash
Preceded byRalph Hanan
Succeeded byNorman Shelton
23rd Minister of Education
In office
30 April 1940 – 18 October 1947
Prime MinisterPeter Fraser
Preceded byPeter Fraser
Succeeded byTerry McCombs
26th Minister of Native Affairs
In office
7 July 1943 – 19 December 1946
Prime MinisterPeter Fraser
Preceded byFrank Langstone
Succeeded byPeter Fraser
10th President of the Labour Party
In office
8 April 1931 – 29 March 1932
Vice PresidentWilliam Atkinson
Preceded byJim Thorn
Succeeded byBill Jordan
Personal details
Born
Henry Greathead Rex Mason

(1885-06-03)3 June 1885
Wellington, New Zealand
Died2 April 1975(1975-04-02) (aged 89)
Wellington, New Zealand
Political partyLabour
SpouseDulcia Martina Rockell
Children4
Alma materVictoria University

Henry Greathead Rex Mason CMG QC (3 June 1885 – 2 April 1975) was a New Zealand politician. He served as Attorney General, Minister of Justice, Minister of Education, and Minister of Native Affairs, and had a significant influence on the direction of the Labour Party. The longest-serving Member of Parliament in New Zealand history, Mason served in Parliament continuously from 1926 to 1966. He is also the only person to serve as a Member of the New Zealand Parliament for over 40 years.[1]

Early life

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Mason was born in Wellington on 3 June 1885.[2] His father was Harry Brooks Mason, a compositor at the Government Printing Works (who worked for Hansard for a time) from South Africa. His mother, Henrietta Emma Rex, was an Australian who helped form the Women's Social and Political League and was vice-president in 1894. She also taught ballroom dancing in Wellington prior to World War I.[3]

Mason was educated at Clyde Quay School, then Wellington College where he was dux in 1902. He won a scholarship and attended Victoria University where graduated in 1907 with a Master of Arts with honours in mathematics and a Bachelor of Laws. He then worked in several law firms in Wellington and Eltham before opening his own practice in Pukekohe in 1911. He was soon joined in the practice by his brother Spencer, who later became president of the Auckland District Law Society.[3]

On 27 December 1912 Mason married Dulcia Martina Rockell at Auckland. Together they had two sons and two daughters.[3] Through his wife's influence, Mason become interested in Indian religion and spirituality, and beliefs derived from it (particularly Theosophy). He was a vegetarian and a teetotaller.[2]

Political career

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New Zealand Parliament
Years Term Electorate Party
1926–1928 22nd Eden Labour
1928–1931 23rd Auckland Suburbs Labour
1931–1935 24th Auckland Suburbs Labour
1935–1938 25th Auckland Suburbs Labour
1938–1943 26th Auckland Suburbs Labour
1943–1946 27th Auckland Suburbs Labour
1946–1949 28th Waitakere Labour
1949–1951 29th Waitakere Labour
1951–1954 30th Waitakere Labour
1954–1957 31st Waitakere Labour
1957–1960 32nd Waitakere Labour
1960–1963 33rd Waitakere Labour
1963–1966 34th New Lynn Labour

Mason was elected Mayor of Pukekohe in 1915. He was left-wing in his political outlook, and joined the Labour Party on its foundation in 1916. In the 1919 general election, he was Labour's candidate for the seat of Manukau, but was defeated. Mason sought the Labour nomination for the 1921 by-election in the Auckland East seat, but was beaten by John A. Lee.[4] Later, he shifted his attention to the seat of Eden — he contested it in the 1922 election and 1925 election. He finally won Eden in a 1926 by-election, assisted by the fact that the Reform Party's vote was split by a defeated nominee, Ellen Melville.

Rex Mason represented the seat of Eden in the 22nd Parliament (1926–28), Auckland Suburbs in the 23rd to 27th Parliaments (1928–46), Waitakere in the 28th to 33rd Parliaments (1946–63), and New Lynn in the 34th Parliament (1963–66).

In both 1931 and 1933 he stood unsuccessfully for Mayor of Auckland City on a Labour Party ticket, defeated by George Hutchison on both occasions.[5][6]

Throughout his parliamentary career, Mason remained highly involved in the organisation of the Labour Party. He served as its president from 1931 to 1933, and played a major role in policy formulation. Mason was regarded as a social democrat rather than a socialist, and he played a part in moving the Labour Party closer to the political centre. He did, however, believe that the state should have exclusive control over the country's financial system, influenced by social credit monetary reform theories. Other causes supported by Mason include the establishment of a comprehensive old-age pension system and the granting of full state services to naturalised immigrants (the latter making him extremely popular with his electorate's substantial Yugoslavian community).[2]

In 1935, Mason was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.[7]

First Labour government

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When Labour won the 1935 general election, Mason became Attorney General and Minister of Justice, reflecting his legal background.[8] When disputes arose between the party leadership and John A. Lee's more radical faction, Mason remained on good terms with both sides — while he sympathised with some of Lee's points, particularly regarding monetary reform, he did not join Lee's breakaway Democratic Labour Party (DLP). Mason later served as Minister of Education (where he worked closely with C. E. Beeby to implement educational reforms) and as Minister of Native Affairs. In 1941 the Public Service Commissioner Thomas Mark died in (or just outside) the minister's office, during a confrontation with Mason who wanted the resignation of the head of a department.

The chief justice, Michael Myers, was of the view that the Crown's principal law officers should be King's Counsel. On 23 July 1946, Mason (who was Minister of Justice) and Herbert Evans (who was solicitor-general) received their appointment.[9] Mason was not returned to Cabinet after the 1946 election, but returned to fill a vacancy the following year. After Labour lost office, he continued to agitate on a number of issues, notably decimal currency.

Opposition

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In 1953 Mason was among several Labour MPs who attempted an abortive coup to remove the 71-year-old Walter Nash as party leader, others included Bill Anderton and Arnold Nordmeyer. Mason informed Nash that several members were complaining about the party's leadership to him, and that he thought that the majority wanted to have a new leader. By 1954 a majority of the caucus was in favour of leadership change but pressure from the unions and continued support from Party branches allowed Nash to survive the subsequent caucus vote.[10]

Second Labour government

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After Labour won the 1957 election, Mason returned to his previous roles of Attorney General and Minister of Justice. He was also made Minister of Health.[11]

In 1959 he introduced a bill proposing that men convicted of homosexual acts should be dealt with as merely indecent assaults and therefore carry a lighter penalty. Mason was unfairly and inaccurately accused of attempting to amend the law to legalise homosexual acts between consenting males and adopt the recommendations of the 1957 Wolfenden Report on homosexuality in England. In 1961 Nationals deputy leader Jack Marshall retracted much of his party's criticism, claiming they had misunderstood the intention of the bill.[12]

Later career

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Mason eventually retired from politics at the 1966 election, under a certain amount of pressure from colleagues who wished to "rejuvenate" the Labour Party. Mason was now in his eighties.[2] Two years earlier he had broken Āpirana Ngata's record for the longest consecutive service in Parliament and Maurice O'Rorke's record for the longest overall service in Parliament. He is the only person to have served as an MP for over 40 years.[1]

He was invited by new Prime Minister Norman Kirk as a guest of honour to the first meeting of caucus following Labour's victory in the 1972 election where he oversaw the election of the cabinet.[13]

In the 1967 New Year Honours, Mason was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George, for public services.[14]

Death

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Mason died in Wellington on 2 April 1975, aged 89, and his ashes were buried in Karori Cemetery.[15][16]

Mason Street in his home electorate of New Lynn is named after him.

Notes

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "Longest serving members of Parliament". Parliament of New Zealand. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d Hunt, Jonathan. "Mason, Henry Greathead Rex". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
  3. ^ a b c Round 2001, p. 131.
  4. ^ "Auckland East Seat". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. LVIII, no. 17909. 11 October 1921. p. 6. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
  5. ^ "Local Body Elections". Vol. LXII, no. 110. The New Zealand Herald. 12 May 1931. p. 18. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
  6. ^ "Auckland Mayoralty". Vol. LXX, no. 21482. The New Zealand Herald. 4 May 1933. p. 11. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
  7. ^ "Official jubilee medals". Evening Post. Vol. CXIX, no. 105. 6 May 1935. p. 4. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
  8. ^ Wilson 1985, p. 82.
  9. ^ "King's Counsel". Otago Daily Times. No. 26212. 24 July 1946. p. 6. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
  10. ^ "HGR Mason: Father of New Zealand's decimal currency system". We Love Pukekohe. 24 April 2014. Archived from the original on 20 June 2015. Retrieved 20 June 2015.
  11. ^ Wilson 1985, p. 88.
  12. ^ Round 2001, p. 141.
  13. ^ Grant 2014, p. 220.
  14. ^ "No. 44212". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 1 January 1967. p. 43.
  15. ^ "Cemeteries search (cremation)". Wellington City Council. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
  16. ^ "Cemeteries search (burial)". Wellington City Council. 12 July 2012. Retrieved 19 November 2014.

References

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  • Grant, David (2014). The Mighty Totara: The life and times of Norman Kirk. Auckland: Random House. ISBN 9781775535799.
  • Round, Derek (2001), "Henry Greathead Rex Mason QC CMG: An Outstanding Law Reformer", Waikato Law Review, 9
  • Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.
New Zealand Parliament
Preceded by Member of Parliament for Eden
1926–1928
Succeeded by
New constituency Member of Parliament for Auckland Suburbs
1928–1946
Constituency abolished
Member of Parliament for Waitakere
1946–1963
Succeeded by
Member of Parliament for New Lynn
1963–1966
Succeeded by
Political offices
Preceded by Minister of Justice
1935–1949

1957–1960
Succeeded by
Preceded by Succeeded by
Preceded by Attorney-General
1935–1949

1957–1960
Succeeded by
Preceded by Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Education
1940–1947
Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Native Affairs
1943–1946
Succeeded by
Preceded by Minister of Health
1957–1960
Succeeded by
Party political offices
Preceded by President of the Labour Party
1931–1932
Succeeded by