Michael Connelly (New Zealand politician)

The Honourable Michael Connelly CBE
Member of the Legislative Council
In office 9 March 1936 – 8 March 1950
Personal details
Born	29 April 1887 Kakaramea, New Zealand
Died	30 October 1970 (aged 83) Christchurch, New Zealand
Political party	Labour Party
Relations	Mick Connelly (son)

Michael Connelly CBE (29 April 1887 – 30 October 1970) was a New Zealand trade unionist, politician of the Labour Party, and a Member of the Legislative Council (upper house) from 1936 to 1950.

Biography

Born in Kakaramea in 1887, he was active in the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants as Secretary of the Thorndon (Wellington) branch 1914–1918 and national president 1923–1925.

He was a Dunedin City Councillor 1944–1947 and 1950–1959, and unsuccessfully contested the Dunedin mayoralty in 1956 and the Port Chalmers parliamentary electorate in 1925. He was a director of the Grey River Argus when it became a Labour newspaper.

He was a railway officer, i.e. a civil servant when he was appointed to the Legislative Council on 9 March 1936 by the first Labour Government,^[1] hence a special act, the Michael Connelly Appointment Validation Act 1936 (technically a private act) had to be passed to validate his appointment.^[2] His term ended on 8 March 1943, and he was reappointed the following day for another seven years. When his second term ended on 8 March 1950, the first National Government was in power and he was not reappointed.^[1] From 1948 until the end of his term in 1950, he was Chairman of Committees of the Legislative Council.^[3]

Connelly died in Christchurch on 30 October 1970 and was buried at Andersons Bay Cemetery, Dunedin.^[4] His son, Mick Connelly, was a Labour Party MP and cabinet minister.

Notes

1. Wilson 1985, p. 151.
2. Wilson 1985, p. 146.
3. Wilson 1985, p. 169.
4. "Cemetery details". Dunedin City Council. Retrieved 25 March 2016.

References

• Gustafson, Barry (1986). From the Cradle to the Grave: a biography of Michael Joseph Savage. Auckland: Reed Methuen. p. 278. ISBN 0-474-00138-5.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First published in 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.