George William Forbes

George William Forbes (around 1932)

George William Forbes (born March 12, 1869 in Lyttelton , New Zealand , † May 17, 1947 in Cheviot , New Zealand) was a New Zealand politician and Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1930 to 1935 .

Early life

Forbes was born in Lyttelton , near Christchurch . He attended Christchurch Boys' High School but did not attend university. He was a good athlete and mainly did athletics , rowing and rugby , where he was the captain of the Canterbury team. After graduating from school, he worked briefly in his father's ship supply store in Lyttelton. He later became a successful farmer at Cheviot north of Christchurch. There he came into contact with local politics and worked primarily in the Cheviot County Council and the Cheviot Settlers' Association .

Entry into parliament

In the elections in 1902 Forbes ran unsuccessfully for the first time as a member of parliament for the constituency of Hurunui. He ran as an independent candidate because he was not nominated by the Liberal Party . In the elections after next in 1908, he became the Liberal candidate for Hurunui and won a seat in parliament, which he would keep for 35 years.

Forbes remained backbencher for a while . When party leader Thomas Mackenzie became prime minister in March 1912, Forbes was the party's whip . He retained this position when the party went into opposition in 1912. However, he had a considerably higher status in the party than his job indicated. Few, however, saw him as a potential leader.

In the early 1920s, the Liberal Party faced a decision about its political future. The Reform Party government under William Massey dominated the political scene, rallying conservative voters. The growing Labor Party had begun to undermine the Liberals' electoral base. Many members of the Liberals saw an alliance with the Reform Party as inevitable and sought the cooperation that they considered necessary against the “radical” Labor Party. When Massey died in 1925, Liberal leader Thomas Mason Wilford proposed a merger to Massey's successor. He suggested "the National Party" for the name of the new party. The Liberals selected Forbes as their representative at a joint conference. The new leader of the Reform Party, Gordon Coates , rejected the proposal, although Wilford said the Liberals would accept the name "National" even then.

Party leader

Shortly after the merger failed, Wilford resigned as party chairman and Forbes unexpectedly got his post. In the 1925 elections, however, his party only achieved seven seats, the Reform Party 55. The post of opposition leader was given to Labor, which had achieved 12 seats and thus enabled its chairman Harry Holland to claim the leadership role in the opposition. But since there were also two independent candidates in the opposition, the question of leadership remained open until the by-elections in Eden's constituency in 1926 .

In 1927 the liberal politician William Andrew Veitch formed an alliance with the former organizer of the reform party Albert Ernest Davy . He was dissatisfied with what he saw as the paternalistic reform party and its leadership style. The former Liberal Party (still under the name "National") took over Davy's new "United New Zealand Political Organization" and adopted the name United Party . Forbes and Veitch competed for leadership in the new party, but the post went to former Liberal Prime Minister Joseph Ward . Forbes became one of two deputies and was particularly responsible for the South Island .

United was supported by dissidents from the Reform Party so that the party was able to form a government with the support of the Labor Party in the 1928 election. Forbes became the Minister of Land and Agriculture. However, Ward's health deteriorated so far that he could no longer perform his duties. Forbes de facto took over its duties. In 1930 Ward officially resigned as premier and Forbes became premier. He also secured the finance minister's portfolio .

prime minister

As prime minister, Forbes was described as "apathetic and fatalistic", reacting to events but showing little vision and goal orientation. His opponents also accused him of relying too much on the advice of his friends. However, the years of the Great Depression were difficult times for many governments around the world. His defense lawyers say he did his job as best he could in the adverse circumstances of the Great Depression.

The Forbes administration began to show signs of instability when Labor withdrew its support for the government. The Labor Party expressed dissatisfaction with some of the government's economic policies. Forbes wanted to use these to reduce the deficit in public finances and boost the economy, but Labor saw them unnecessarily harming the interests of the lower-income sections of the population.

In late 1931, Forbes called for a grand coalition of United, Reform and Labor to solve the country's economic problems. Forbes announced at a joint conference that it would not introduce the measures it considered necessary without broad support. Labor refused to join this coalition. Gordon Coates' reform finally agreed at the instigation of the party's finance spokesman, William Downie Stewart .

In the 1931 election, the coalition of United and Reform achieved good results, winning a total of 51 seats. Forbes remained Prime Minister, but handed over finance to William Downie Stewart. Slowly, however, there were increasing voices that Coates had too much power and Forbes willingly complied with Coates' demands. This was compounded when Coates and Stewart argued over financial policy. Forbes was known for its support of Stewart's policies, but publicly sided with Coates.

Stewart then resigned and was replaced by Coates as Treasury Secretary, so that he dominated the coalition even more. Stewart complained that "the Prime Minister was too passive and the Treasury Secretary too active". However, Forbes and Coates came increasingly under fire for the country's ongoing economic troubles. The dissatisfaction of the population led to the fact that the coalition was defeated by Labor with 55 to 19 votes in the 1935 elections.

resignation

In 1935, Forbes was growing weary of politics. He wrote that he agreed with Downie Stewart's description of professional politics as "slavery falsely called power". Albeit hesitantly, Forbes was nominated as opposition leader and from May 1936 he provisionally led the new National Party , which was formed from Reform and United , until Adam Hamilton took over the party leadership in October of that year .

Forbes remained in parliament until 1943, when after 35 years of membership in parliament it was not possible to re-establish itself. He refuses the title of Knight that he was offered and died four years later at Cheviot's Crystal Brook farm.

In honor of Forbes, the library was named "George Forbes Memorial Library", part of Lincoln University near Christchurch.

Works

• George W. Forbes. Some problems of production and distribution within the British Empire / address by GW Forbes Empire Parliamentary Association, London 1930

literature

• William James Gardner: Forbes, George William . In: Alexander Hare McLintock (Ed.): An Encyclopaedia of New Zealand . Wellington 1966 ( online [accessed December 14, 2015]).
• Architectural competition in Journal of the NZ Institute of Architects , vol. 23, 8th edition, p. 201, 1956
• MM Burns, F. Gordon Wilson, Ronald C. Muston: The George Forbes Memorial Library in: Journal of the NZ Institute of Architects, Vol. 24, Issue 3, pp. 70-74, 1957
• Clyde Carr: Politicalities , National Magazines, Wellington 1936 pp. 50-52
• Olaf F. Nelson: The situation in Samoa: Mr. Nelson meets Mr. Forbes: a record of the interview , National Printing, Auckland 1932
• John Wilson: Cheviot's jolts and ballots in: Christchurch Press, October 18, 1993 p. 25

Web links

• William James Gardner : Forbes, George William . In: Dictionary of New Zealand Biography . Ministry for Culture & Heritage , September 1, 2010, accessed August 20, 2012 .