Daniel pollen

Daniel pollen

Daniel Pollen (born June 2, 1813 in Dublin , † May 18, 1896 ) was the ninth Prime Minister of New Zealand . He was a member of the New Zealand Parliament for 35 years and ruled from July 6, 1875 to February 15, 1876.

biography

Practically nothing is known about his early years, except that he spent them partly in Ireland and partly in the United States , where his father helped build the Capitol in Washington . Pollen studied medicine and received a doctorate (where exactly is also not known). In the late 1830s, he emigrated to New South Wales , Australia , and then moved to North Shore on New Zealand's North Island in January 1840 . On February 6, 1840, he was an eyewitness to the signing of the Waitangi Treaty .

In 1844 Pollen was appointed forensic doctor. On May 18, 1846, he married Jane Henderson. With her he moved to Kawau Island in 1847 , where he worked as a company doctor at a copper mine. There he wrote newspaper articles at regular intervals in which he called for the introduction of a representative democracy . He supported the establishment of libraries and advocated moderation .

In 1852 Pollen became Chief of Police of the Auckland Police Department. From 1856 to 1861 he was a member of the provincial parliament. From 1858 to 1862 he was commissioner for crown lands and therefore responsible for the settlement of new immigrants. It was then that he began actively campaigning for Maori rights. In 1861, Pollen successfully ran for a seat in the New Zealand House of Commons. In 1870, pollen held four offices: chief tax collector, commissioner for confiscated land, commissioner for enforcement of Māori land rights and immigration officer.

From 1873 to 1877 Pollen was the colonial secretary and thus the liaison between the New Zealand government and the governor. From July 1875 to February 1876 he was also Prime Minister: The actual incumbent Julius Vogel was on one of his frequent trips abroad to secure the financing of his daring infrastructure projects. As Vogel's return to New Zealand was delayed, the government threatened to become leaderless, which is why Pollen stepped in for him. After serving as Minister for "Native Affairs" in 1877, he resigned from the government. He remained a member of parliament until his death in 1896.

Web links

Commons : Daniel Pollen  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Pollen, Daniel (article from the Encyclopedia of New Zealand )