Hiram Hunter (10 February 1874 – 9 May 1966) was a New Zealand politician and trade unionist.
Early life
Born in
Christchurch in 1874, Hunter was a farmer, storekeeper, carter, and
trade unionist.
Political career
Hunter stood for the
Christchurch East electorate in the
New Zealand House of Representatives
The House of Representatives is the sole chamber of the New Zealand Parliament. The House passes Law of New Zealand, laws, provides Ministers of the New Zealand Government, ministers to form Cabinet of New Zealand, Cabinet, and supervises the ...
in for the
Labour Party (original), for the
Social Democratic Party and for the
New Zealand Labour Party
The New Zealand Labour Party ( mi, Rōpū Reipa o Aotearoa), or simply Labour (), is a centre-left political party in New Zealand. The party's platform programme describes its founding principle as democratic socialism, while observers descr ...
. His best result was losing by 136 votes in 1911 in a close three-way contest, and failing to qualify for the subsequent
run-off election by just four votes. He was President of the LRC (1911–1913) and of the Social Democratic Party (1913–1915). In , he contested the
Mid-Canterbury electorate as an
Independent Labour candidate against
Jeremiah Connolly, but was unsuccessful.
During the 1930s, Hunter became increasingly disillusioned with the NZ Labour Party and argued that: ''"We have learned much of socialisation through its application in Russia. The result has been servility for the workers under the domination of dictators and, what seemed a book of beautiful ideal in 1915 has turned out to be in practice, a horrible reality"''.
[(The Christchurch Press, 6 October 1938)] In 1938 he stood for the conservative
National Party against his former Labour comrade
Dan Sullivan Dan, Danny, or Daniel Sullivan may refer to:
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* Daniel J. Sullivan (born 1940), American film and theater director
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who beat him by a three to one margin, with the election-night crowd booing him so loudly his speech could not be heard leaving Hunter with an undignified end to his public career.
Hiram Hunter was a member of the
Christchurch City Council for ten years (1911–1915; 1917–1923).
Death
Hunter died in 1966 at
Ashburton.
Notes
References
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hunter, Hiram
1874 births
1966 deaths
Burials at Memorial Park Cemetery, Christchurch
Christchurch City Councillors
New Zealand businesspeople
New Zealand farmers
New Zealand trade unionists
People from Christchurch
Unsuccessful candidates in the 1938 New Zealand general election
New Zealand National Party politicians
Unsuccessful candidates in the 1931 New Zealand general election
Unsuccessful candidates in the 1911 New Zealand general election
Unsuccessful candidates in the 1914 New Zealand general election
Unsuccessful candidates in the 1919 New Zealand general election
Social Democratic Party (New Zealand) politicians
New Zealand Labour Party politicians