Rex Mason
CMG QC | |
---|---|
17th Attorney-General | |
In office 6 December 1935 – 13 December 1949 | |
Prime Minister | Michael Joseph Savage Peter Fraser |
Preceded by | George Forbes |
Succeeded by | Clifton Webb |
In office 12 December 1957 – 12 December 1960 | |
Prime Minister | Walter Nash |
Preceded by | Jack Marshall |
Succeeded by | Ralph Hanan |
30th Minister of Justice | |
In office 6 December 1935 – 13 December 1949 | |
Prime Minister | Michael Joseph Savage Peter Fraser |
Preceded by | John Cobbe |
Succeeded by | Clifton Webb |
In office 12 December 1957 – 12 December 1960 | |
Prime Minister | Walter Nash |
Preceded by | Jack Marshall |
Succeeded by | Ralph Hanan |
18th Minister of Health | |
In office 12 December 1957 – 12 December 1960 | |
Prime Minister | Walter Nash |
Preceded by | Ralph Hanan |
Succeeded by | Norman Shelton |
23rd Minister of Education | |
In office 30 April 1940 – 18 October 1947 | |
Prime Minister | Peter Fraser |
Preceded by | Peter Fraser |
Succeeded by | Terry McCombs |
26th Minister of Native Affairs | |
In office 7 July 1943 – 19 December 1946 | |
Prime Minister | Peter Fraser |
Preceded by | Frank Langstone |
Succeeded by | Peter Fraser |
10th President of the Labour Party | |
In office 8 April 1931 – 29 March 1932 | |
Vice President | William Atkinson |
Preceded by | Jim Thorn |
Succeeded by | Bill Jordan |
Personal details | |
Born | Henry Greathead Rex Mason 3 June 1885 Wellington, New Zealand |
Died | 2 April 1975 Wellington, New Zealand | (aged 89)
Political party | Labour |
Spouse | Dulcia Martina Rockell |
Children | 4 |
Alma mater | Victoria University |
Henry Greathead Rex Mason
Early life
Mason was born in
Mason was educated at
On 27 December 1912 Mason married Dulcia Martina Rockell at Auckland. Together they had two sons and two daughters.
Political career
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
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
In 1935, Mason was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.[7]
First Labour government
When Labour won the
The chief justice,
Opposition
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
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 which was not the case. In 1961 National's deputy leader Jack Marshall was to retract much of his party's criticism claiming they had misunderstood the intention of the bill.[12]
Later career
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
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
- ^ a b "Longest serving members of Parliament". Parliament of New Zealand. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
- ^ a b c d Hunt, Jonathan. "Mason, Henry Greathead Rex". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 27 August 2013.
- ^ a b c Round 2001, p. 131.
- ^ "Auckland East Seat". The New Zealand Herald. Vol. LVIII, no. 17909. 11 October 1921. p. 6. Retrieved 26 December 2018.
- ^ "Local Body Elections". Vol. LXII, no. 110. The New Zealand Herald. 12 May 1931. p. 18. Retrieved 26 August 2017.
- ^ "Auckland Mayoralty". Vol. LXX, no. 21482. The New Zealand Herald. 4 May 1933. p. 11. Retrieved 10 May 2017.
- ^ "Official jubilee medals". Evening Post. Vol. CXIX, no. 105. 6 May 1935. p. 4. Retrieved 31 July 2019.
- ^ Wilson 1985, p. 82.
- ^ "King's Counsel". Otago Daily Times. No. 26212. 24 July 1946. p. 6. Retrieved 26 April 2021.
- ^ "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.
- ^ Wilson 1985, p. 88.
- ^ Round 2001, p. 141.
- ^ Grant 2014, p. 220.
- ^ "No. 44212". The London Gazette (3rd supplement). 1 January 1967. p. 43.
- ^ "Cemeteries search (cremation)". Wellington City Council. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
- ^ "Cemeteries search (burial)". Wellington City Council. Retrieved 19 November 2014.
References
- Grant, David (2014). The Mighty Totara: The life and times of Norman Kirk. Auckland: 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.