Mr. Alfred Levavasour Durell Fraser, Member of the House of Representatives for Napier, was first elected in the year 1899, when he defeated Mr. R. D. D. McLean. He is an active politician, and is an authority on Maori law. Mr. Fraser is a member of the firm of Messrs Fraser and Bull, of Napier, and resides in Hastings.

Mr. Alfred Dillon, Member of the House of Representatives for Hawke's Bay, was returned at the election of 1905, when he defeated Sir. William Russell. He is a native of Wales, and came to Hawke's Bay by the first wool ship, the “Southern Cross,” in 1857. He first found employment as cow boy at the late Mr. H. S. Tiffen's Homewood estate, whence he went to Tamumu, and afterward's to Mr. J. Knight as bullock driver. At the age of nineteen years he entered into partnership with Mr. C. Clark, of Kaikora North, purchased teams of bullocks, and became a public carrier between Napier and the Waipawa County district. He carted wool to Napier from the Patangata, Oero, and Tamumu districts for over fourteen years. Mr. Dillon then sold out, and purchased his father-in-law's property, on which he went sheep-farming. He also purchased a portion of the Homewood estate. At present he is owner of 2,500 acres and 1,000 acres at Tamumu, shears over 8,000 sheep, and depastures 300 head of cattle. During his long residence in Hawke's Bay, Mr. Dillon has devoted a good deal of his time to local affairs. He has at one time or other been an active member of nearly all the local public bodies. He has been chairman of the Waipawa County Council, of the Waipukurau Hospital, Patangata Road Board, Waipawa River Board, and school committee, and a member of the Napier Harbour Board. He was also for six years a governor of the Napier High School, and has identified himself with every forward movement in the district. Mr. Dillon is one of the oldest Freemasons and Oddfellows in Patangata. He married the daughter of Mr. S. Collins, and has nine sons and three daughters. Four of his sons he has placed on farms, and the others are working on the home estate.

Mr. A. Dillon.

Mr. Charles Hall, M.H.R., was first elected a member of the House of Representatives for Waipawa in the year 1893 when he contested the seat with Mr. George Hunter and Mr. W. W. Carlile. He was again elected in 1899, in 1902 defeated Mr. James Tay- page 301 lor, and was subsequently returned at the election of 1905. Mr. Hall has always taken a keen interest in matters relating to public affairs and local government, and was a member of the Waipawa County Council, and the Education Board for six years; for ten years a member of the Licensing Committee, and a member of the Hawke's Bay Land Board for eighteen years. Mr. Hall has taken an active interest in land settlement; he promoted several special settlement associations, and was one of the original selectors in the Woodville-Mangatanoka special settlement. He was also a councillor and Mayor of the Borough of Woodville, and was for several years coroner for the district of Woodville, a position he resigned upon entering Parliament. Mr. Hall was born in the year 1843, at Malton, North Riding of Yorkshire, England, and is the seventh son of the late Mr. George Hall, a stationer of that town. He was educated in his native place at Richardson's Academy, and the British School, and afterwards served an apprenticeship to the building trade. Mr. Hall subsequently came to New Zealand, and followed his trade until he established himself in business as a stationer at Woodville. He afterwards disposed of his business to his brother, the late Mr. Edwin Hall, and settled in Dannevirke. Mr. Hall married Miss Marian Dinsdale, daughter of the late Mr. George Dinsdale, of Malton, and has one son and two daughters. His eldest daughter is Mrs. Nash, the wife of a chemist in Auckland.

Mr. C. Hall.

Mr. Apirana Turupa Ngata, M.A., Ll.B. who represents the Eastern Maori electorate in the House of Representatives, was elected to that body at the general elections in December, 1905. Mr. Ngata was born in Kawakawa, East Coast, in the year 1874. He was educated at the Waiomatatini Native School, and afterwards at Te Aute College, where he matriculated in 1890, subsequently taking his Batchelor of Arts degree at Canterbury College in 1893. Mr. Ngata then went to Auckland, and became articled to the well-known firm of Messrs Devore and Cooper, barristers and solicitors. In 1894 he took honours in political science, which entitled him to the Master of Arts degree, and in the following year he again distinguished himself by taking his LL.B. degree. Mr. Ngata was admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of New Zealand in 1896, and commenced the practice of his profession in Auckland. In 1899 he was appointed travelling secretary of the Te Aute College Students' Association, now known as “The Young Maori Party” a position he occupied until 1902. When some of the views of the party were incorporated in the “Maori Councils Act, of 1900,” he was appointed Organising Inspector of Maori Councils. Of late years Mr. Ngata has been actively engaged in organising and stimulating the sheep-farming industry among the natives of the Waiapu County, and his efforts have been crowned with considerable success.

Bunting, photo.
Mr. Apirana Turupa Ngata