Michael Connelly (New Zealand)
Encyclopedia
Michael Connelly was a New Zealand
trade unionist, politician of the Labour Party
, and a member of the Legislative Council
(upper house) from 1936 to 1943, and from 1943 to 1950.
Born in Kakaramea, he was active in the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants as Secretary of the Thorndon (Wellington) branch 1914-18 and national president 1923-25.
He was a Dunedin City Councillor 1944-47 & 1950-59, and unsuccessfully contested the Dunedin mayoralty in 1956 and the Port Chalmers parliamentary electorate in 1925. He was a director of the Grey River Argus when it became a Labour newspaper.
He was a railway officer i.e. a civil servant when he was appointed to the Legislative Council
in 1936 by the First Labour Government
, hence a special act, the Michael Connolly Appointment Validation Act 1936 (technically a private act) had to be passed to validate his appointment.
His son Mick Connelly
(Michael Aynsley Connelly, 1916–2003) was a Labour Party MP and cabinet minister.
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
trade unionist, politician of the Labour Party
New Zealand Labour Party
The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party. It describes itself as centre-left and socially progressive and has been one of the two primary parties of New Zealand politics since 1935....
, and a member of the Legislative Council
New Zealand Legislative Council
The Legislative Council of New Zealand was the upper house of the New Zealand Parliament from 1853 until 1951. Unlike the lower house, the New Zealand House of Representatives, the Legislative Council was appointed.-Role:...
(upper house) from 1936 to 1943, and from 1943 to 1950.
Born in Kakaramea, he was active in the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants as Secretary of the Thorndon (Wellington) branch 1914-18 and national president 1923-25.
He was a Dunedin City Councillor 1944-47 & 1950-59, and unsuccessfully contested the Dunedin mayoralty in 1956 and the Port Chalmers parliamentary electorate in 1925. He was a director of the Grey River Argus when it became a Labour newspaper.
He was a railway officer i.e. a civil servant when he was appointed to the Legislative Council
New Zealand Legislative Council
The Legislative Council of New Zealand was the upper house of the New Zealand Parliament from 1853 until 1951. Unlike the lower house, the New Zealand House of Representatives, the Legislative Council was appointed.-Role:...
in 1936 by the First Labour Government
First Labour Government of New Zealand
The First Labour Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 1935 to 1949. It set the tone of New Zealand's economic and welfare policies until the 1980s, establishing a welfare state, a system of Keynesian economic management, and high levels of state intervention...
, hence a special act, the Michael Connolly Appointment Validation Act 1936 (technically a private act) had to be passed to validate his appointment.
His son Mick Connelly
Mick Connelly
Michael Anysley Connelly was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party, and a Cabinet Minister from 1972 to 1975 in the Third Labour Government...
(Michael Aynsley Connelly, 1916–2003) was a Labour Party MP and cabinet minister.
Reference
- From the Cradle to the Grave: a biography of Michael Joseph Savage by Barry GustafsonBarry GustafsonBarry Gustafson is a New Zealand political scientist and historian, and a leading political biographer. He served for nearly four decades as Professor of Political Studies at the University of Auckland, and as Acting Director of the New Zealand Asia Institute from 2004 to 2006.-Politics and...
(1986, Reed Methuen, Auckland) ISBN 0474001385 (Biographical Appendix, page 278) - New Zealand Parliamentary Record 1840-1984 by J. O. Wilson (1985, 4th edition, Government Printer, Wellington) (pp 146, 151)