Roderick McKenzie

Roderick McKenzie (1852 - 1934) was a New Zealand Member of Parliament for Buller and Motueka, in the South Island.

Member of Parliament

Roderick McKenzie was the MP for Buller between 1893 and 1896 and the MP for Motueka from 1896 to 1913. He was Minister of Public Works and Mines 1909-1912. [Wilson & Wood]

Prior to his election to Parliament, McKenzie was an engineer and bridgebuilder. His projects included construction of the Westport Staiths at a cost of 22,000 pounds, the railway bridge at Arahura and he laid the rails to Hokitika. [Cyclopedia of NZ 1906, Vol. 5, p.30]

Roderick McKenzie was a "strong supporter of the Seddon administration". [Cyclopedia 1906, p.31] However, in 1912 McKenzie would have nothing to do with Thomas MacKenzie's Liberal Ministry stating that: John Millar should have been Prime Minister, Mackenzie's ministers were political novices and had forsaken their liberal principles. [Bassett, pp.12-13]

He was born in Ross shire, Scotland and was educated at the Glasgow Academy. He came to New Zealand in 1869 and was a member of the Westport Harbour Board, [Cyclopedia 1906, p.30] Nelson Harbour Board and Kumara Hospital Board. In 1932, when he was 80 years old, McKenzie contested the Motueka seat at the by-election following the death of George Black. [A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography, Edited by G.H. Scholefield, Vol. 2, p.28, 1940, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington]

Notes

References

*"Three Party Politics in New Zealand, 1911-1931" by Michael Bassett (1982, Historical Publications, Auckland)
*"The New Zealand Parliamentary Record 1840-1984" by J.O. Wilson (1985, Government Printer, Wellington)
*"Ministers and Members in the New Zealand Parliament" by G.A. Wood (1996, University of Otago Press, Dunedin)