Aubrey Wilbert Begg (9 April 1929 – 7 November 1988) was a New Zealand

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

, for Awarua in

Southland Southland may refer to: Places Canada * Dunbar–Southlands, Vancouver, British Columbia New Zealand * Southland Region, a region of New Zealand * Southland County, a former New Zealand county * Southland District, part of the wider Southland Re ...

Biography

Early life and career

Begg was born in Balclutha, educated at

Southland Boys' High School Southland Boys' High School (SBHS) is an all-boys school in Invercargill, New Zealand, and has been the only one in the city since Marist Brothers was merged with St Catherines to form Verdon College in 1982. History SBHS was founded in 1881 and ...

, and was a farmer near

Invercargill Invercargill ( , mi, Waihōpai is the southernmost and westernmost city in New Zealand, and one of the southernmost cities in the world. It is the commercial centre of the Southland region. The city lies in the heart of the wide expanse of t ...

. In 1954 he married Joy Rose Wright with whom he had three sons and one daughter. Through his involvement in farming, Begg became an executive member of

Federated Farmers Federated Farmers of New Zealand is a lobby and advocacy group for all farmers: arable including fruit and vegetables, dairy and meat and their often remote communities. It has a network of 24 regional organisations and six industry groups. F ...

and later was its junior vice-president of the meat and wool section. He was described as a "true son of

" who never gave up his independence. Parliamentary colleague

Colin Moyle Colin James Moyle (born 18 July 1929) is a former politician of the New Zealand Labour Party who served as a Member of Parliament (MP) from 1963 to 1976 and again from 1981 to 1990. He was a Government minister in the Third Labour and Fourth ...

stated Begg paid a price for his individualism and his lack of teamwork cost him the advancement that he could have had.

Political career

Begg first stood for 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 in the "true blue" electorate of against cabinet minister

Brian Talboys Sir Brian Edward Talboys (7 June 1921 – 3 June 2012) was a New Zealand politician who served as the seventh deputy prime minister of New Zealand for the first two terms of Robert Muldoon's premiership. If the abortive " Colonels' Coup" a ...

. Despite losing he was well remembered in the electorate, particularly for winning a majority at the pooling booth in Drummond which was normally a National Party stronghold. Three years later he contested the nearby seat of for

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

but lost to National's

Hugh Templeton Hugh Campbell Templeton (born 24 March 1929) is a former New Zealand diplomat, politician and member of parliament for the National Party. Early life and family Templeton was born in Wyndham, Southland, in 1929. He was educated at Gore Hig ...

by 906 votes. However Begg in turn defeated Templeton by 700 votes at the election as part of Labour's landslide victory. He held the seat for one term until he was defeated in 1975. He quickly earned a reputation for speaking forthrightly on farming issues particularly in favour of meat producers. Notably he was a strong opponent of a scheme to acquire compulsorily the wool clip despite the scheme being supported by the Third Labour Government. Following his defeat he stood for the vice-presidency of the Labour Party at the 1976 party conference. He lost to

Gerald O'Brien John Gerald O’Brien (2 December 1924 – 13 December 2017), known as Gerald O'Brien, was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party. Early life O'Brien was born in Wellington on 2 December 1924, the son of John Thomas O'Brien, and was ed ...

, placing third in the delegate ballot with 135 votes compared to O'Brien's 585 votes and 344 for Dorothy Jelicich. Begg became a member of Labour's party executive and chairman of Labour's Agricultural Advisory Committee. In the , he was the Labour candidate for

losing by the narrow margin of 256 votes to Norman Jones. At the , he stood unsuccessfully once again in Wallace, this time as an

Independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independ ...

candidate attracting over 2,000 votes, far more than usual for an independent.

Later life and death

After exiting parliament Begg became President of the Southland branch of

. In August 1988 was taken ill and underwent exploratory surgery for what was found to be cancer. He died on 7 November 1988 in Invercargill, aged 59.

References

1929 births 1988 deaths People educated at Southland Boys' High School New Zealand farmers New Zealand Labour Party MPs People from Balclutha, New Zealand Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives New Zealand MPs for South Island electorates Unsuccessful candidates in the 1978 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1981 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1975 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1969 New Zealand general election Unsuccessful candidates in the 1966 New Zealand general election Deaths from cancer in New Zealand {{NZLabour-politician-stub