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John Edie (1856 – 7 June 1928) was a Liberal Party Member of Parliament in the Otago region of New Zealand. He was a surveyor and an engineer, and also spent time as a farmer. He was Mayor of Lawrence.
John Edie | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Bruce | |
| In office 14 April 1920 – 7 December 1922 | |
| Preceded by | James Allen |
| Succeeded by | Constituency abolished |
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Clutha | |
| In office 7 December 1922 – 4 November 1925 | |
| Preceded by | Alexander Malcolm |
| Succeeded by | Fred Waite |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1856 Newcastle, New South Wales |
| Died | 7 June 1928 Lawrence, New Zealand |
| Political party | Liberal |
| Occupation | Engineer |
Edie was born in Newcastle, New South Wales in 1856. He came to New Zealand as a child and attended school in Waitahuna near Lawrence.[1][2] He joined the survey department in 1873 and surveyed the Catlins River Branch railway line, but construction did not start until 1879.[1] In 1876, at age 20, he became assistant surveyor to the Government.[2]
He joined the Tuapeka County Council in 1885 as an engineer and remained in that position until 1919, when he resigned to stand in the 1919 election.[1]
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In the 1896 election, Edie contested the Clutha electorate.[3] Before the election, he was criticised for standing for the Liberal Party, thus claiming to represent the working man, yet underpaying staff at his mine.[4] He was soundly beaten by the conservative incumbent, James Thomson.[5]
Edie contested the Bruce electorate in the 1919 election as a Liberal against the incumbent, Reform's James Allen. Edie was beaten by the small margin of 126 votes (2.15%).[6] After Allen's resignation in March 1920,[7] Edie won the Bruce electorate in a 1920 by-election.[8][9] At the time of the election, he was Mayor of Lawrence.[2]
In the 1922 general election he won the Clutha electorate, but lost Clutha in 1925 to the Reform candidate Fred Waite.[10]
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Edie was for a time captain of the Tuapeka Rifles.[11] He was into mining, especially gold mining, and had an interest in a mine at Island Block (a locality on State Highway 8 between Beaumont and Ettrick).[1] He shared an interest in a farm of 900 acres (360 ha) in Tuapeka West with two sons.[2][11]
Edie died on 7 June 1928 at Lawrence after having been bed-ridden with heart problems for six months.[11]
His son, Herbert Kerr Edie, unsuccessfully contested the 1935 and 1938 elections in the Clutha electorate as a Labour Party candidate against James Roy.[12][13][14]
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