Hiram Hunter (10 February 1874 – 9 May 1966) was a New Zealand politician and trade unionist.

Early life

Born in

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon Rive ...

in 1874, Hunter was a farmer, storekeeper, carter, and

trade unionist A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits (s ...

Political career

Hunter stood for the

Christchurch East Christchurch East, originally called Christchurch City East, is a current New Zealand parliamentary electorate. It was first created for the and was abolished for two period, from 1875–1905 and again from 1946–1996. It was last created for ...

electorate in the New Zealand House of Representatives in for the Labour Party (original), for the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties Fo ...

and for the New Zealand Labour Party. 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 The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resu ...

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 Mid Canterbury (also spelt Mid-Canterbury and mid-Canterbury) is a traditional, semi-official subregion of New Zealand's Canterbury Region extending inland from the Pacific coast to the Southern Alps. It is one of four traditional sub-regions of C ...

electorate as an

Independent Labour An independent or non-partisan politician is a politician not affiliated with any political party or bureaucratic association. There are numerous reasons why someone may stand for office as an independent. Some politicians have political views th ...

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 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 The Christchurch City Council is the local government authority for Christchurch in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Christchurch. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Christchurch is Phil Mauger, wh ...

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