John Edie

Background

Edie was born in Newcastle, New South Wales in 1856.

Education

He came to New Zealand as a child and attended school in Waitahuna near Lawrence.

Career

He was a surveyor and an engineer, and also spent time as a farmer. He was Mayor of Lawrence. He joined the survey department in 1873 and surveyed the Catlins River Branch railway line, but construction did not start until 1879.

In 1876, at age 20, he became assistant surveyor to the Government.

He joined the Tuapeka County Council in 1885 as an engineer and remained in that position until 1919, when he resigned to stand in the 1919 election. In the 1896 election, Edie contested the Clutha electorate.

Before the election, he was criticised for standing for the Liberal Party, thus claiming to represent the working man, yet underpaying staff at his mine. He was soundly beaten by the conservative incumbent, James Thomson.

Edie contested the Bruce electorate in the 1919 election as a Liberal against the incumbent, Reform"s James Allen.

Edie was beaten by the small margin of 126 votes (215%). At the time of the election, he was Mayor of Lawrence. Edie was for a time captain of the Tuapeka Rifles.

He was into mining, especially gold mining, and had an interest in a mine at Island Block (a locality on State Highway 8 between Beaumont and Ettrick).

He shared an interest in a farm of 900 acres (360 ha) in Tuapeka West with two sons. Edie died on 7 June 1928 at Lawrence after having been bed-ridden with heart problems for six months.

Achievements

• After Allen"s resignation in March 1920, Edie won the Bruce electorate in a 1920 by-election. In the 1922 general election he won the Clutha electorate, but lost Clutha in 1925 to the Reform candidate Fred Waite.