Arthur Ellis Kinsella (15 January 1918 – 4 March 2004) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party, and was a cabinet minister.

Biography

Early life

Kinsella was born at

Waikino Waikino is a small settlement at the eastern end of a gorge in the North Island of New Zealand alongside the Ohinemuri River, between Waihi and the Karangahake Gorge. The Waikino district lies at the base of the ecologically sensitive Coromandel ...

in 1918. He was educated at

Waihi District High School Waihi College is a co-educational secondary school located in the North Island town of Waihi in New Zealand. The school motto reads in Latin 'Lex Nostra Fides' translated into English as 'Our Faith Is The Law'. It was established as a District ...

, Waihi School of Mines,

University of Auckland , mottoeng = By natural ability and hard work , established = 1883; years ago , endowment = NZD $293 million (31 December 2021) , budget = NZD $1.281 billion (31 December 2021) , chancellor = Cecilia Tarrant , vice_chancellor = Dawn ...

Victoria University of Wellington Victoria University of Wellington ( mi, Te Herenga Waka) is a university in Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand. It was established in 1897 by Act of New Zealand Parliament, Parliament, and was a constituent college of the University of New Z ...

and

Auckland Teachers College The Auckland College of Education, earlier known as the Auckland Training College and the Auckland Teachers' Training College, was a teachers' college in Auckland, New Zealand's largest city. It was established in 1881 and was based in the Aucklan ...

; he graduated with MA and Diploma in Education. He was a farmer and teacher before becoming an MP. In

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

he served with NZ Engineer Forces (7th Field Company) in UK, Middle East and Greece where he was wounded and returned to New Zealand.

Political career

Kinsella was elected as the Member of the rural electorate of

Hauraki Hauraki is a suburb located on the southern North Shore of Auckland, the largest metropolitan city in New Zealand. It is under the local governance of the Auckland Council. History The traditional name for the western coastline in Hauraki wa ...

in the . He was Minister of Broadcasting (1960–1963) in the second National Government under Keith Holyoake, overseeing the introduction of Television to New Zealand. He was Postmaster-General (1961–1963),"Resignation of Ministers" (20 December 1963) 82 The New Zealand Gazette 2077 and was Minister of Education (1963–1969). He retired from Parliament in 1969 following a bad car crash. As a minister he enabled private stations on radio and television (rather than limit them to direct state stewardship) via the Broadcasting Corporation amendment bill. He also faced a chronic shortage of telephones in New Zealand with a waiting list of 19,000 in the early 1960s. He lengthened the teacher training period from two years to three and attempted to reduce class sizes. He also established a new

medical school A medical school is a tertiary educational institution, or part of such an institution, that teaches medicine, and awards a professional degree for physicians. Such medical degrees include the Bachelor of Medicine, Bachelor of Surgery (MBBS, MB ...

in Auckland. In 1970 Kinsella was granted the right to retain the title of

The Honourable ''The Honourable'' (British English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; American and British English spelling differences#-our, -or, see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific Style (ma ...

for life. In

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

Kinsella was elected to the Auckland City Council serving one term. Later, in 1983 he was elected to the Wellington City Council He lost his seat three years later but regained a seat following a 1987 by-election.

Later life and death

After his retirement from politics, he was a business consultant before his return to teaching as Principal of the Technical Correspondence Institute. In the

1992 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1992 were appointments by most of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries, and honorary ones to citizens of other countrie ...

, Kinsella was appointed a

Companion of the Queen's Service Order The Queen's Service Order, established by royal warrant of Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, is used to recognise "valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the pu ...

for public services. Kinsella died in 2004.

Notes

References

* * , - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Kinsella, Arthur 1918 births 2004 deaths Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand New Zealand National Party MPs New Zealand schoolteachers University of Auckland alumni Victoria University of Wellington alumni New Zealand education ministers Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for North Island electorates Companions of the Queen's Service Order 20th-century New Zealand politicians Auckland City Councillors Wellington City Councillors New Zealand military personnel of World War II People from Waikato