William Tanner (New Zealand)

William Wilcox Tanner (1851 - 1938) was a New Zealand politician of the Liberal Party. In 1905 he was associated with the New Liberal Party group.

Member of Parliament

William Tanner represented the Christchurch seats of Heathcote from 1890 to 1893 and then Avon from 1893 to 1908, when he was defeated.

Among the radical policies that Tanner approved of were-the nationalisation of land, periodic revaluation of Crown leaseholds, and the establishment of a state bank (Lyttelton Times, 11 November 1902, p.3).

William Tanner was born in Northamptonshire, England and came to New Zealand in 1879. He was a member of the Woolston Municipal Council (1893-1900), Canterbury Hospital Board (1911-14), and Secretary to the Bootmakers' Union of Christchurch. Tanner was considered to be "the first Labour candidate" to be elected to the New Zealand House of Representatives in 1890 when he was successful in the Heathcote electorate (Cyclopedia of NZ 1903, p.91). Tanner was described by the Lyttelton Times in 1902 as: "Methodical, studious, always ready to refer to statistics, records and a terror for detail" (Lyttelton Times, 18 October 1902, p.4). The Christchurch Press said of him: "Nice voice, speaks slowly with a precision almost painful...Hard-working, intelligent, industrious and no reason to doubt his honesty".

His son Walter Tanner was the second Chief Censor of Films in New Zealand.

References

*"The New Liberal Party 1905" by G.F. Witcher (1966, MA(Hons) Thesis-University of Canterbury, Christchurch)
*"The New Zealand Parliamentary Record 1840-1984" by J. O. Wilson (1985, Government Printer, Wellington)
*"Ministers and Members in the New Zealand Parliament" Edited by G.A. Wood (1996, Otago University Press, Dunedin)