Bill Rowling

Sir Wallace Edward Rowling (* November 15 1927 in Motueka, † 31 October 1995 in Nelson), better known as Bill Rowling, was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party and Prime Minister from 1974 to 1975.

Rowling was born in Motueka near Nelson in a peasant family. He attended the famous School Nelson College and then studied at the University of Canterbury. There he completed a business degree and then made at Christchurch College of Education training as a teacher. He taught at various schools in the country before he joined the army in 1958. There he was deputy director for training. He spent some time in Malaysia and Singapore.

Work as a politician

In the 1960 elections Rowling first ran for a seat in parliament. In the constituency Fendalton in Christchurch, a stronghold of the National Party, he lost to Harry Lake.

In 1962 he took over the seat of the late Jerry Skinner, which he held until the 1972 election. After the victory of the Labour Party in 1972, he was Finance Minister under Prime Minister Norman Kirk. When Kirk died suddenly in 1974, his successor was Rowling.

During his tenure, he was subjected to strong criticism of the opposition. He was portrayed as weak and ineffective. The Labour Party was defeated, in the 1975 election, also due to the bad image Rowling and because of the superior media impact of his rival Robert Muldoon.

Rowling was chairman of the party and could even gain the most votes in the elections in 1978 and 1981. However, the majority of the seats remained with the National Party. He managed to improve its negative image. However, he was replaced before the election in 1982 by David Lange and retired also from the Parliament back.

Between 1985 and 1988 he was ambassador to the U.S., this time falls a dispute over the ANZUS agreement between the two countries. Back in New Zealand he became involved, among other things, for the Museum of New Zealand.

Honors

He was a member of the Order of St Michael and St George and the Orde van Oranje -Nassau in the Netherlands.

Henry Sewell | William Fox | Edward Stafford | Alfred Domett | Frederick Whitaker | Frederick Weld | George Waterhouse | Julius Vogel | Daniel Pollen | Harry Atkinson | George Grey | John Hall | Robert Stout | John Ballance | Richard Seddon | William Hall -Jones | Joseph Ward | Thomas Mackenzie | William Massey | Francis Bell | Joseph Gordon Coates | George Forbes | Michael Savage | Peter Fraser | Sidney Holland | Keith Holyoake | Walter Nash | Jack Marshall | Norman Kirk | Bill Rowling | Robert Muldoon | David Lange | Geoffrey Palmer | Mike Moore | Jim Bolger | Jenny Shipley | Helen Clark | John Key

• Prime Minister (New Zealand)
• Member of the House of Representatives (New Zealand)
• New Zealand Ambassador to the United States
• Of the Order of Orange- Nassau ( commander )
• Military person (New Zealand)
• New Zealanders
• Born 1927
• Died in 1995
• Man