Alfred Kidd (1851 – 24 August 1917) was a New Zealand politician of the

Liberal Party The Liberal Party is any of many political parties around the world. The meaning of ''liberal'' varies around the world, ranging from liberal conservatism on the right to social liberalism on the left. __TOC__ Active liberal parties This is a li ...

. He was the 18th

Mayor of Auckland The Mayor of Auckland is the directly elected head of the Auckland Council, the local government authority for the Auckland Region in New Zealand, which it controls as a unitary authority. The position exists since October 2010 after the amalga ...

Early life

Born at

Hounslow Hounslow () is a large suburban district of West London, west-southwest of Charing Cross. It is the administrative centre of the London Borough of Hounslow, and is identified in the London Plan as one of the 12 metropolitan centres in Gr ...

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, Alfred Kidd had arrived in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in January 1866 on the ship ''Ballarat'', at sixteen years old, and worked in Mangere on farms for three years. On the opening of the Thames Goldfields, he moved there and "has seen it develop from a canvas town—there being only one wooden house then (Sheehan's)—to its present proportions." He was one of the first arrivals and he began to prospect immediately. For seven years he worked in most of the principal mines and before leaving he was an amalgamator at the Kuranui Battery. He left to take the position of steward and providore for the steamers of the Waikato Steam Navigation Company. He did this for three years and married Christine Whisker. With the opening of the railways taking the passenger traffic from the river, Kidd came to

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

and entered into the hotel keeping business. On his arrival he took over the licence of the old Provincial Hotel in Prince's Street and the Anchor Hotel. He held the license for the Commercial Hotel, (the oldest licensed house, it is claimed, in New Zealand—dating from 1841), now de Bretts, on the corner of High Street and Shortland Streets from 1882 until 1903.

Political career

Alfred Kidd started his political career by being a Parnell Borough councillor. On the

Auckland City Council Auckland City Council was the local government authority for Auckland City, New Zealand, from 1871 to 1 November 2010, when it and Auckland's six other city and district councils were amalgamated to form the Auckland Council. It was an elected b ...

, he was chairman of the Streets Committee, a member of the Library Committee and chairman of the Finance Committee. He was acting mayor during the term of David Goldie, as Mr Goldie was often ill. Then Logan Campbell made it a condition of his accepting the mayoralty that Alfred Kidd be acting mayor again. There are several press reports of the time saying it was scandalous that Kidd was not made mayor during the visit of the Duke and Duchess of York as he had effectively done all the work under the previous mayoralty of Goldie, one of the reports pointing out that a factor in the decision was that he would not be able to entertain the Duke at the Northern Club as he was not a member. Kidd was elected mayor in his own right for three years in 1902. He worked tirelessly to create the new electric tramways, new sewerage and roads. He followed very popular movements, promoting workers rights and opening up Maori land, and was then pressured to go into parliament, suggesting that he was the only man who could control the Prime Minister

Richard Seddon Richard John Seddon (22 June 1845 – 10 June 1906) was a New Zealand politician who served as the List of prime ministers of New Zealand, 15th Prime Minister of New Zealand, premier (prime minister) of New Zealand from 1893 until his death. ...

. At the time of purchasing the land at 74 & 76 Gillies Avenue, Kidd was one of the oldest sitting members of the Auckland City Council, having been first elected in 1885. He had resigned in 1888, when his projects for developing 159 acres at Ellerslie in the southern part of Remuera, fell victim to a property crash and he filed for bankruptcy. However he paid his creditors in full and the bankruptcy was annulled then, after a brief period, he was re-elected, and held his seat until he became MP for Auckland in 1905. From 1902 to 1905, he was one of the three Members of Parliament representing the multi-member

City of Auckland Auckland City was a territorial authority with city status covering the central isthmus of the urban area of Auckland, New Zealand. It was governed by the Auckland City Council from 1989 to 2010, and as a territory within the wider Auckland R ...

electorate. For the 1905 general election these multi-member electorates were split up, and he won the electorate, for which he became the sole Member of Parliament. He held the seat until 1908, and was Chief Whip – Seddon and Ward Governments. He ensured that the new Auckland Post Office was built, now the site of Britomart station and introduced several bills, including an important gambling bill that restricted gambling to racecourses. In the 1908 general election, he was challenged by

Albert Glover Albert Edward Glover (1849–11 September 1941) was a New Zealand politician of the Liberal Party. Biography Early life and career Glover was born in Nottingham, England, in 1849. At age 13 he sailed with his parents to New Zealand and arrived ...

and came a distant second to him. Both were from the

, which was not unusual at that time.

Notes

References

* , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Kidd, Alfred 1851 births 1917 deaths New Zealand Liberal Party MPs English emigrants to New Zealand Mayors of Auckland New Zealand MPs for Auckland electorates Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Unsuccessful candidates in the 1908 New Zealand general election New Zealand Freemasons People from Hounslow 20th-century New Zealand politicians Auckland Harbour Board members Members of district health boards in New Zealand