Alexander Mair

The Hon. Alexander Mair (25 August 1889 – 3 August 1969) was an Australian politician and Premier of New South Wales from 5 August 1939 to 16 May 1941.

Early life

Born in the Melbourne suburb of North Carlton, Mair was educated at Wesley College and Bradshaw's Business College. In 1913, he married Grace Shoolbread Lennox. Later he became a farmer and businessman in the Albury area.cite web
first=Peter
last=Ewer
coauthors=Peter Spearritt
title =Mair, Alexander (1889 - 1969)
publisher =Australian National University
work=Australian Dictionary of Biography
url =http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A100378b.htm
accessdate = 2007-05-02]

Political career

In 1932, Mair won the seat of Albury, just north of the Victorian border, in the Legislative Assembly from the sitting Labor member, Joseph Fitzgerald, in an election affected by New Guard violence. He held the seat to 1946.cite web
title =The Hon. Alexander Mair (1889 - 1969)
work =Members of Parliament
publisher =Parliament of New South Wales
url =http://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/prod/parlment/members.nsf/1fb6ebed995667c2ca256ea100825164/8f7a3d4ce8029a42ca256cb7007b9032!OpenDocument
accessdate = 2007-05-02]

As a devout Presbyterian, he advocated that the rich should help the poor during the Great Depression by paying their income tax in advance and gave most of his paliamentary salary to the poor in his own electorate until 1938. In 1937, he visited Britain for the coronation of King George VI and attempted to enter the Soviet Union as a sailor on a Norwegian ship, but was refused entry.

In June 1938 Mair was appointed Minister for Labour and Industry in Bertram Stevens' United Australia Party ministry and in October he became Treasurer. He proposed a drastic cut in expenditure to bring the budget back into balance. On 1 August 1939, Eric Spooner carried a motion of no confidence in Stevens, who resigned. Country Party leader and Deputy Premier Michael Bruxner refused to form a coalition government with Spooner, who was opposed to Country Party influence, and as a result Mair became leader of the United Australia Party. He was sworn in as Premier on 5 August.

When World War II broke out, Mair fully supported the mother country; and both his sons volunteered to join the Second Australian Imperial Force. In the 1941 election campaign, he was unable to show that his government has significantly reduced unemployment or that it had made a significant contribution to the war effort. Labor took power in a landslide under William McKell and Labor remained in government for almost a quarter of a century afterwards.

Unlike most of the other important United Australia Party figures, Mair (who remained Opposition Leader till 1944) took a very important role in the establishment of the Liberal Party, which held meetings discussing its constitution at the Mate's Department Store building in Albury. He served on the Liberals' New South Wales executive from 1945 to 1946. In 1946, he resigned his seat to run unsuccessfully for a place in the Senate.

Almost a quarter of a century later, Mair died in his St Kilda (Melbourne) home, and was survived by his two sons and a daughter.

References

Persondata
NAME=Mair, Alexander
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=New South Wales politician and Premier of New South Wales
DATE OF BIRTH= 25 August 1889
PLACE OF BIRTH= Carlton North, Victoria
DATE OF DEATH= 3 August 1969
PLACE OF DEATH= St Kilda, Victoria