| John HALL � His Political Years �Our Celebrities, No 6; Sir John Hall, K.C.M.G., The Weekly Press, 27/12/05� The Early Years in Provincial Government When his early work of making a home was accomplished, John Hall found the leisure to engage in the public life of the colony. He entered the first Provincial Council as member for the Christchurch Country District, and, except during occasional absences from the colony, remained a member until the abolition of the Provinces. With Mr S Bealey, he is the only survivor of the first Council. Mr Hall, from time to time, filled most of the offices of the Canterbury Government. He was also, for several years, Resident Magistrate for Christchurch and Lyttleton, Sheriff, and Commissioner of Police. John Hall always took an active part in Local Government Institutions. He was the Chairman of the first Christchurch City Council, and is now the only survivor of that body. He was largely instrumental in laying out and planting the Christchurch Domain and Hagley Park, an example of the enlightened and far-seeing wisdom in administration for which Christchurch citizens owe him an ever-renewing gratitude.� When the Westland goldfields were discovered, he was the Secretary for Public Works for Canterbury. In view of the rush to the coast, it became important to establish direct communications with Hokitika as speedily as possible. He visited proposed routes across the ranges, and finding that by Arthur�s Pass the best pushed through that road, which has been adhered to ever since. When Westland was separated from Canterbury and made a separate County, John Hall, then a member of the Stafford Ministry, was appointed first Chairman of the County, and started its administrative machinery. Mr Seddon was then a member of Westland County Council. The Middle Years in Parliament In 1855 Mr Hall was elected a member of the House of Representatives, and in 1856 took office as Colonial Secretary in the short-lived Fox Ministry. Subsequently, he was a member of the Stafford Ministry as Postmaster General from 1866 to 1869, and, during part of that time, acted as Colonial Treasurer. Between 1872 and 1876 he was a member of the Fox, the Waterhouse and the Atkinson Ministries. Premier of New Zealand In 1879, John Hall resigned from the Legislative Council, was elected member for the Heathcote in the House of Representatives; as Leader of the Opposition carried a vote of no confidence in the Ministry of Sir George Grey, and took office as Premier. He continued to hold this office under Sir Hercules Robinson and Sir Arthur Gordon until 1883, when ill health compelled him to resign. During Sir John�s Premiership, the acts were passed that first placed the New Zealand electoral system upon its present (1905) basis. Knighthood He was then made a Knight Commander of St Michael and St George, receiving congratulations from both sides of the House of Representatives. He soon afterwards went for a time to the Old Country. On his return, Sir John was elected member for Selwyn, and represented that constituency until 1894, when, having passed three score and ten years, he retired from active political life. He was then the oldest member of the House, having been in Parliament for 40 years. During this long period, he never lost an election of any kind, though once he retired from contesting the Mount Cook District, when his views were not considered sufficiently favourable to the pastoral interest. The Later Years The only important work in which Sir John Hall has taken part since his retirement from Parliament, was with Sir William Russell, representing New Zealand at the first Conference on Australasian Federation, held in Melbourne in 1890. Both New Zealand delegates recommended this colony not to join the Federation. Sir John stated that the 1200 miles which separated New Zealand from Australia were 1200 good reasons for our standing out. With the late Mr Crosbie Ward, he also represented New Zealand at the first Australasian Postal Conference. Earlier, he had been Commissioner for the Paris Exhibition of 1888. Women�s Suffrage In New Zealand One of the movements with which his man is most closely associated is Women�s Suffrage, at which he laboured in Parliament for thirteen years. The Women�s Christian Temperance Union, of whose Franchise Branch Mrs W K Sheppard was the head, largely conducted the outside agitation. Sir John took no part in the agitation in the country, but his advocacy in the House was of great service; the fact that he, a Conservative, supported the movement, disarmed much of the opposition that might otherwise have come from the Conservative element in the population. |