James Wright Munro (22 February 1870 – 27 May 1945) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.

Early life

Munro was born in

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in 1870. He was a baker by trade, and president of the Dunedin Bakers' Union in 1907. He started his own business in partnership with Peter Neilson (who also became a Labour MP) after victimisation by employers. Munro was president of the Dunedin branch of the

Independent Political Labour League The Independent Political Labour League (IPLL) was a small New Zealand political party. It was the second organised political party to win a seat in the New Zealand House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and was a forerunner of the m ...

(IPLL) in 1907. In 1911, he was national president of the

New Zealand Socialist Party The New Zealand Socialist Party was founded in 1901, promoting the works of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The group, despite being relatively moderate when compared with many other socialists, met with little tangible success, but it neverthe ...

Political career

He first stood for Parliament when he contested the electorate in the for the IPLL. On this occasion, he was beaten by John A. Millar of the

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. He contested the same electorate in the for the Socialist Party as one of three candidates and was eliminated in the first ballot. He unsuccessfully contested the in the electorate for the United Labour Party against

Charles Statham Sir Charles Ernest Statham (10 May 1875 – 5 March 1946) was a New Zealand politician, and the ninth Speaker of the House of Representatives, from 1923 to 1935. Private life He was born in Dunedin in 1875, and trained in law, practising in hi ...

of the Reform Party. Statham resigned after the election after irregularities in the counting of the vote turned a 12-vote lead for Munro into a 12-vote loss. Munro and Statham contested the resulting , which was narrowly won by Statham. Munro and Statham contested the Dunedin Central electorate again in the , Munro standing for the Labour Party, and Statham as an

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. The incumbent was successful. Munro represented the electorate of

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in Parliament from the to 1925, and from to 1945, when he died. In 1935, he was awarded the

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. He was not appointed a minister in 1935 as he had a reputation for being lazy, and had embarrassed

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a week before the 1935 election by stating that: :"if anyone tried to stop a Labour government carrying out its policy, Labour might have to ‘smash things’ and put directors and managers in gaol on a bread and water diet ‘as some of our Communist friends were dealt with’ until they learnt to obey the government". He was on the

Dunedin City Council The Dunedin City Council ( mi, Kaunihera ā-Rohe o Ōtepoti) is the local government authority for Dunedin in New Zealand. It is a territorial authority elected to represent the people of Dunedin. Since October 2022, the Mayor of Dunedin is Jules ...

(1927–1945) and Otago Harbour Board. From 1937 until 1938 he was Deputy Mayor of Dunedin. He died in Dunedin on 27 May 1945, and his ashes were buried at

Andersons Bay Cemetery Andersons Bay Cemetery is a major cemetery in the New Zealand city of Dunedin. It is located to the southeast of the city centre, on a rocky outcrop which forms the inland part of Lawyers Head, a promontory which juts into the Pacific Ocean. The ...

. His son, David Johnston Munro, was Labour's parliamentary candidate for the electorate at the . He lost to National MP Tom Macdonald. He later sought the Labour nomination at the 1953 North Dunedin by-election but was not selected.

Notes

References

* * * , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Munro, Jim 1870 births 1945 deaths New Zealand Labour Party MPs United Labour Party (New Zealand) politicians Independent Political Labour League politicians New Zealand Socialist Party politicians Dunedin City Councillors Deputy mayors of places in New Zealand New Zealand MPs for Dunedin electorates Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Unsuccessful candidates in the 1908 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 Unsuccessful candidates in the 1925 New Zealand general election Burials at Andersons Bay Cemetery