Arnold Nordmeyer
Heinrich Arnold Nordmeyer ONZ, KCMG ( born February 7, 1901 in Dunedin, † February 2nd 1989 in Wellington ), later became known as Arnold Henry Nordmeyer, was a New Zealand minister of the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand politician and leader of New Zealand Labour Party.
Life and work
Education, career and family
Heinrich Arnold Nordmeyer was born on 7 February 1901 as a son of the German sailor Arnold Nordmeyer and his wife Martha Dunn, in Dunedin. His mother, a born Walker, came from County Tyrone, Ulster, located in present-day Northern Ireland. She was widowed and brought from the previous marriage three children in the family with a. His father, immigrated to New Zealand, worked on a dredger in the gold fields of Alexandra.
After visiting the Primary School in Alexandra Nordmeyer moved to the Waitaki Boys' High School in Oamaru and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Social Sciences at the University of Otago in Dunedin. Then he devoted himself to the study of theology at the Knox College, also in Dunedin. In 1925 he was ordained by the Presbyterian Church of Aotearoa New Zealand as a priest. In the same year he moved to Kurow, located west of Oamaru and served there ten years as a parish priest until 1935. 1932 he was elected to the board of the Waitaki Hospital and was, among other things Referee of the Waitaki Rugby Union.
On October 28, 1931 North Meyer married his wife, Frances, Maria Kernahan, Oamaru. The marriage produced one daughter and one son.
Affected by the harsh working and living conditions of workers at Kurow Dam, Nordmeyer got interested in active policy making.
Political career
Abandoned his parish, Nordmeyer joined in the General Election of 1935 for the Labour Party in the constituency Oamaru with the aim to win a direct mandate to the House of Representatives. Labour won 52 seats, the parliamentary elections, far ahead of its competitors and Nordmeyer be direct mandate. For the first time in Parliament Nordmeyer joined as more capable debater in appearance, supported the socialist wing of the party led by John A. Lee and went with the group in opposition to the party leaders, Michael Joseph Savage, Peter Fraser and Walter Nash, in his time as Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister and finance the backbone of the first Labour government in New Zealand formed. Nordmeyer and the other went the political changes do not go far enough. Equipped with a comfortable majority, could have put in their opinion, the Labour government even more social standards in the country.
Nordmeyer sat down initially for improving social security in old age and in the healthcare system and took over for the health sector as a minister under Prime Minister Peter Fraser in January 1941 for the first time government. In 1947 he took over the post of Minister of Industries and Commerce ( Industry and Trade). 1949 Labour lost control of the government and with them Nordmeyer his ministerial office and his constituency in Oamaru.
After Fraser died in 1950 got Nordmeyer in February 1951 his seat in Parliament about the constituency of Brooklyn, which was later integrated into the constituency Iceland Bay. From 1950 to 1955 Nordmeyer held the Presidency in the Labour Party and was appointed after the reelection in 1957 by Labour under Walter Nash to the Minister of Finance. However, shortly after the government takeover of the government deficit has developed rapidly by the collapse of the export economy. Nordmeyer was trying to get the trade deficit through higher taxes on imported goods under control. But the tax on beer and tobacco, which was only one of a larger package of measures, the nerve of the New Zealanders was especially. By the opposition as " Black Budget " means the term branded the unpopular measures and meant that already on the elections in 1960 Labour lost control of the government again and Nordmeyer since the term " Black Budget " is associated.
After leaving politics
1969 North Meyer retired from active politics. Now 68 years old, he took over the role at the invitation as an arbitrator in various labor disputes in the meat industry, became a member of the Board of the Wellington Hospital, took over as director in the Reserve Bank of New Zealand and in the Maui Development Limited and has been Executive Sitting of New Zealand Superannuation Corporation. In 1970 he was awarded the Doctor of Law from the University of Otago. In the same year the award of the CMG of the Order of St Michael and St George followed with promotion to KCMG in 1975. On February 6, 1987 Nordmeyer was awarded the Order of New Zealand and was the first ever of this award received.
Arnold Nordmeyer died on 2 February 1989. His family gave up a state funeral and scattered instead of a funeral, his ashes at Lake Ohau.
Political offices
Government offices