'Ironsand' Smith regained it in 1899 and served until his death in 1907. He was widely eulogised: 'Dressed in his frock coat, wide-waistcoat and large buttonhole, he was a light comedian-if one may respectfully apply the term-of the House. Mr Smith was a most amusing speaker; he had a good sense of humour, and this he used occasionally with excellent effect in bantering the opposition when the took up their bludgeons. Other obituary notices praised him for his capacity for sheer hard work, and his leader, Seddon, often chose him to answer and ridicule main Opposition speakers. 'It should be mentioned that the Opposition did not regard Smith as a gentleman, as his speech was not grammatically correct. He became known throughout the colony for his habit of omitting his aspirates when they should have been used, and vice-versa: 'Hi Ham Hee Emm Smith, Hem Haitch Har', he would announce, introducing his many speeches on 'the hiron hores lying on the beach and never a man to work them. His life's dream, which was denied him, was to see the exploitation of the mineral resources of Taranaki. 'One is often tempted, in recalling the comic side of his nature, and the humourlessness of New Zealand politics, to ponder how Mr Smith was ever elected to Parliament, but his more serious virtues and the way he symbolised the triumph of the common man over wealthier opponents give the answer. A few Mr Smiths in Parliament today would not go amiss. The by-election caused by 'Ironsands' death was narrowly won by Opposition-Reformist H. 1. H. Okey from Edward Dockerill, New Plymouth's Mayor, the Liberal candidate. Okey held the seat continu- ously until 1918. A farmer, with 800ha on the Frankley Road, he had been chairman of the Taranaki County Council for six years, was president of the Taranaki Agricultural Society, a promoter of the Moturoa Freezing Works and was prominent in all farming bodies including the Farmers' Union, who backed him. He had been defeated by Smith in the 1902 election. During his II-year term Taranaki development was characterised by an almost static town population; the continued growth of the dairy industry; the industrial disputes and the waterfront strike of 1913-1914, and the effects of the First World War which saw a boom in land and agricultural prices. ' Nationally, it was a period of Opposition-Reform dominance based on support from farmers and the smaller settlements, and the wartime coalition of the Liberal-Reform Government. Okey was an honest and successful worker in the local cause. He had' got through more local bills than any other member' ,16 and he remained loyal to the farmers' cause without neglecting New Plymouth's needs. When he died in 1918 the resultant by-election ended in success for Sidney Smith, seventh son of 'old Ironsands' , on a Liberal Labour ticket. It was Smith senior's death 11 years previously which gave Okey his first election victory; the wheel had turned full circle. Sidney Smith, like his father, was a 'man of the people', He was employed on the railway, and left his job to join the political 'war' against 1. Connett, a Bell Block farmer (National), whom he defeated by a narrow margin. One of Smith's backers was Walter Nash, then secretary of the newly-formed New Plymouth Labour Party branch, later to become a Member of Parliament for nearly 40 years, Finance Minister for 14, Leader of the Opposition for nine and Prime Minister for three (he became' Sir Walter' in 1956). He was then part-owner of Modern Tailors Ltd and lived briefly at 123 Devon Street before moving to houses in Liardet Street and then Weymouth Street. His son (also Walter) attended West End Primary School (on the committee of which his father served). Smith held the New Plymouth seat until 1925 when he was defeated by C. E. Bellringer, a strong prohibitionist, an ardent Methodist minister and a prominent businessman. He had been a Liberal candidate in five previous elections-the first in 1905 and his espousing of the Reform cause in 1925 was based on what he felt was 'the need for a strong Government to oppose Labour's revolutionary socialism' .17 Smith was returned again in 1928 as a United Coalition member serving the electorate until his defeat in 1938 by F. L. Frost (Labour), also a former Methodist minister, who had first contested the seat in 1935. Frost was a kindly and jovial man, 'perhaps not the best of organisers, and this led to friction and misunderstanding with members of the town's Labour Representative Committee, During his term of office he had aroused their ire by attending a public function on a summer's day clad only in shorts and an open-necked shirt-at that time certainly not the thing to do.
He was defeated in 1943 and a few months later took up a labouring job on the Auckland waterfront. Ernest Philip Aderman, OBE, was an Australian. He was 32 when he came to New Zealand in 1928 to lecture at the Dunedin Church of Christ Theological College,
before becoming a minister at South Dunedin's Church of Christ. He failed in his first attempt to gain a seat in Parliament when he stood as a National Party candidate for Dunedin South in 1938. He served as a chaplain in the New Zealand forces in the early part of the war, and when he came to New Plymouth he occupied a similar position in the Home Guard.
In 1943 he was selected as the National Party candidate for New Plymouth, defeating Frost, and for the next five successive elections continued to represent the electorate. His already considerable majority increased in the 1951 election following the Holland Government's firm action earlier that year when the 151-day nation-wide waterfront strike was broken. Aderman was a quiet, gentle man, and although his parliamentary career was not spectacular, he made his mark as a politician because of his assiduous attention to the demands of his constituents; a request from an elector was never neglected, and he had a very large personal following in the city, which included people of different political persuasion. His qualities were recognised by his peers: he became Junior Whip in 1955 and Senior Whip in 1957. When he retired from politics in 1966, aged 73, he had represented New Plymouth for 24 years. He died the following year. For the next nine years New Plymouth was represented by Ronald Morrison Barclay MBE (Labour). Barclay had a lifelong interest in politics and public life (his uncle, J. G. Barclay, had been Minister of Agriculture in the first Labour Government in 1935). Prior to his arrival in rew Plymouth in 1955 he had farmed in North Auckland, had been a member of the Auckland Education Board and an executive member of the Auckland Clerical Workers' Union. He established a shoe store in New Plymouth and in the 12 years prior to his election he was president of the New Plymouth Crippled Children Society; president of the Taranaki Savings Bank; a member ofthe Taranaki Hospital Board; the New Plymouth High Schools Board; an advisory member of the Plunket Society; a prominent Rotarian; a keen sporting administrator; and was prominent in Labour Party activities. He had been unsuccessful against Aderman in four elections before 1966. In that year he defeated the National candidate,. a radio announcer Brian Clarke, by 78 votes. For the next two elections his majority increase (1000 in 1969; 1296 in 1972) but in the 1975 election, during a swing against the Labour Government, Barclay lost his seat to National candidate Friedlander. During his service as a Member of Parliament Barclay was appointed Senior Whip, Chairman of Committees and Deputy Speaker. Prime Minister Kirk had offered him Cabinet rank, which he declined because 'he was deter- mined to put New Plymouth's interests first'. An indication of the esteem in which he was held by citizens was the fact that he topped the poll in the City Council elections in 1977.
One of the youngest men to represent New Plymouth this century was National's Anthony Peter David Friedlander, who defeated Barclay in 1975 by a majority of 1935 votes. He was a comparative stranger to his electorate, having arrived in the city the previous year where he was employed as a farm appraiser in the Rural Bank. Three years later he retained the seat, with a reduced majority. The Muldoon Government recognised his worth by appointing him Senior Whip (the youngest, at 34, to achieve that post in the country's history), and Deputy-Chairman of Committees. Other New Zealand Members of Parliament who lived or were educated in New Plymouth before embarking on parliamentary careers, included Bruce Beetham (Social Credit), Ken Comber (National, Wellington Central) and Mervyn Wellington (Minister of Education, 1976).
Governor Hobson's first task after New Zealand became a colony was to set up some form of government which he modelled along the British colonial system. He had to devise an administrative system which would cope effectively with existing or planned settlements, newly organised colonies and war-like and often hostile 'natives'. He established the Public Service which, under extreme difficulties, administered the various departments and agencies which experience had shown to be essential during the initial development of other newly colonised countries: but the main pre-occupation of the Europeans in most parts of the country in those early years was not 'self-government but keeping alive .19 So during the first few years of settlement it was left to the resident agent of the New Zealand company to 'govern' New Plymouth as best he could.
The first agent was George Cutfield who had arrived in the William Bryan in March 1841. He found time-apart from building the first house in New Plymouth (which was later to become the first police station); the first bridge (over the Huatoki); establishing the Company's storehouse from which he fed the infant colony; and planting the first garden with English seeds-to govern the settlement. When the second ship arrived in September of that year Cutfield's duties as Resident Agent were to be taken over by Captain Henry King, but during the voyage the Plymouth and New Zealand Companies had merged and Captain Francis Liardet who arrived in the Regina in October was appointed to that post. Little more than a month later Liardet was seriously hurt. His clerk, Richard Chilman, recorded in his diary on December 4th, 1841, a lamentable accident has spread a general gloom over this settlement. Captain Liardet was endeavouring to fire one of the Regina's guns when it unexpectedly went off close to his face, knocking him backwards. He was led home and has been lying in a very dangerous state ever since; being extremely doubtful whether he will recover his sight. His face presents a shocking spectacle. The mate of the Amelia Thompson, J. Watson, was standing close to the gun and was likewise very much hurt,