Bruce Craig Beetham (1936-1997) was an academic and politician from New Zealand, whose career spanned the 1970s and early 1980s. Year 1936 ( MCMXXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1997 ( MCMXCVII) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1997 Gregorian calendar New Zealand is an Island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses (the North Island and the South Island This article is about the Decade 1970-1979 For the Year 1970 see 1970. The 1980s was the decade spanning from January 1 1980 to December 31 1989.
A lecturer at Hamilton's University of Waikato and at the Hamilton Teacher's Training College, he was elected leader of the Social Credit Party (which he had joined in 1969) in 1972, at a time when the party was in disarray and many were questioning its chances of survival. Hamilton ( Kirikiriroa in Māori) is the centre of New Zealand 's fourth largest Urban area, and is the country's seventh largest City The University of Waikato ( Te Whare Wānanga o Waikato) is located in Hamilton and Tauranga, New Zealand, and was established in 1964 One of the several logos used during the history of the Social Credit Party The New Year 1969 ( MCMLXIX) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Year 1972 ( MCMLXXII) was a Leap year starting on Saturday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A brilliant organiser and an electrifying speaker, Beetham succeeded in rebuilding the party, and by the late 1970s it was challenging the stranglehold on the two-party system of the long-dominant National and Labour parties. A two-party system is a form of Party system where two major Political parties dominate voting in nearly all Elections at every The New Zealand National Party ("National" or "the Nats" currently forms the second-largest (in terms of parliamentary seats Political party The New Zealand Labour Party is a New Zealand political party
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Early days
Born in New Plymouth Beetham attended New Plymouth Boys' High School from 1951-1955. for the place called New Plymouth in the United States see New Plymouth Idaho. New Plymouth Boys' High School is a single-sex boys' state Secondary school in New Plymouth, Taranaki, New Zealand. He then went onto the Auckland Secondary Teachers College where he eventually acquired a BA (honours) in History and later an MA. After joining the Social Credit Party during the 1969 general election campaign he was elected as one of the vice presidents of the party in 1971. The 1969 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament 's 36th term. Also in 1971 he ran his first election campaign, an unsuccessfully attempt for a position as a Hamilton City Councillor. His rapid rise in the Social Credit ranks was complete when he was elected Leader in 1972. He presided over Social Credit's 1972 and 1975 election campaigns, in which they failed to get any members elected. The New Zealand general election of 1972 was held to elect MPs to the 37th session of the New Zealand Parliament. The 1975 New Zealand general election was held to elect MPs to the 38th session of the New Zealand Parliament.
Mayor of Hamilton
In 1976, Beetham was elected Mayor of Hamilton in a byelection to replace Mike Minogue, who had resigned to take up a seat in Parliament. Year 1976 ( MCMLXXVI) was a Leap year starting on Thursday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. A mayor (from the Latin māior, meaning "greater" is a modern title used in many countries for the highest ranking officer in a municipal government A by-election or bye-election (called special election in the United States) is an Election held to fill a political office that has become vacant Michael John ("Mike" Minogue (born 2 October 1923) was a National Party politician lawyer and mayor The Parliament of New Zealand consists of the Queen of New Zealand and the New Zealand House of Representatives and until 1951 the New Zealand Legislative Council One of his early ideas as Mayor was to finance municipal projects with interest-free "rates vouchers", but the council, dominated by his opponents, passed a 20 percent rates increase instead. Rates are a type of taxation system in the United Kingdom, and in places with systems deriving from the British one used to fund Local government. His frustrations caused by political gridlock, as well as the difficulty of simultaneously leading a national political party while serving as a Mayor (a post generally expected to be apolitical in New Zealand), were factors in his decision not to seek a second term as Mayor in 1977. Gridlock is a term describing an inability to move on a Transport network. Also 1977 (album by Ash. Year 1977 ( MCMLXXVII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays Ross Jansen succeeded him.
Member of Parliament
On February 18, 1978, Beetham won election to Parliament in a by-election for the Rangitikei electorate, to fill a vacancy caused by the death of its long-time member, the Parliamentary Speaker, Sir Roy Jack. Events 3102 BC - Epoch (origin of the Kali Yuga. 1229 - The Sixth Crusade: Frederick II Holy Year 1978 ( MCMLXXVIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1978 Gregorian calendar) The Rangitikei by-election was a By-election in the New Zealand electorate of Rangitikei, a predominantly rural district in the middle of New Zealand's Rangitīkei (before 2008 styled as 'Rangitikei' without a macron is a New Zealand Parliamentary electorate, returning one Member of Parliament to the New Zealand The term speaker is a title often given to the presiding officer of a legislative body Sir Roy Emile Jack ( 12 January 1914 – 24 December 1977) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party He was a cabinet He retained the seat in the general election later that year, and the Social Credit Party polled 16 percent of the vote nationwide, its best result to date. The 1978 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to elect the 39th New Zealand Parliament. In the 1981 election, the party polled just over 20 percent - the best showing for a third party since the 1920s, but fell short of its goal of holding the balance of power; its support was too evenly spread to translate into more than a couple of seats under the First-past-the-post electoral system in use at that time. Year 1981 ( MCMLXXXI) was a Common year starting on Thursday (link displays the 1981 The 1981 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament. The 1920s is sometimes referred to as the " Jazz Age " or the " Roaring Twenties " when speaking about the United States and Canada The plurality voting system is a Single-winner voting system often used to elect executive officers or to elect members of a legislative assembly which is based on single-member The party, and Beetham himself, strongly promoted a form of proportional representation, but this was not adopted till many years later. Proportional representation (sometimes referred to as full representation or PR is a category of electoral formula aiming at a close match between the percentage of votes However this saw the addition of Gary Knapp as a second Social Credit MP, meaning the party could make more of an impact inside Parliament itself. Garry Thomas Knapp (born 1947) was a New Zealand politician of the Social Credit Party.
In line with his party's policies, Beetham attempted to organize a barter trade deal with Fiji. Barter is a type of Trade in which goods or services are directly exchanged Fiji (Matanitu ko Viti फ़िजी officially the Republic of the Fiji Islands (Matanitu Tu-Vaka-i-koya ko Viti फ़िजी द्वीप समूह गणराज्य Prime Minister Robert Muldoon vetoed the deal. This is a list of Prime Ministers of New Zealand. This includes people who held the title Colonial Secretary and Premier, the direct Sir Robert David ("Rob" Muldoon, GCMG, CH ( 25 September 1921 &ndash 5 August 1992) served as Prime Minister
Political twilight
A number of factors resulted in a sharp drop in support for the Social Credit Party in the general election of 1984. The 1984 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the 41st New Zealand Parliament. Year 1984 ( MCMLXXXIV) was a Leap year starting on Sunday (link displays the 1984 Gregorian calendar) One of these factors was Beetham's ill health. A major heart attack in 1983 curtailed his activities for much of that year and early 1984, and his disappearance from the public view made it possible for a new political party, the New Zealand Party (founded by millionaire businessman Bob Jones) to fill the vacuum. Year 1983 ( MCMLXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Saturday (link displays the 1983 Gregorian calendar) The New Zealand Party was as its name suggests a Political party operating in New Zealand. Sir Robert 'Bob' Jones (born 1939 is a property Tycoon, author and former Politician in New Zealand. This party succeeded in attracting much of the protest vote that Social Credit had previously enjoyed. A Protest vote is a Vote cast in an Election to demonstrate the caster's unhappiness with the choice of candidates or refusal of the current political system
Beetham lost his Rangitikei seat in 1984, mainly because of electoral boundary changes; suspicions have lingered since that the redistribution may have been politically motivated. (See: Gerrymander). Gerrymandering is a form of redistribution in which electoral district or Constituency boundaries are manipulated for electoral advantage
In 1986, Beetham lost the leadership of the party to Neil Morrison who had been elected an MP in 1984. Year 1986 ( MCMLXXXVI) was a Common year starting on Wednesday (link displays 1986 Gregorian calendar) Neil Joseph Morrison ( 1938 - 19 September 2007) was a New Zealand politician of the Social Credit Party. The new leader, on the night he was elected, implied in a TV interview that the Social Credit national dividend policy was out of date and would be dropped. This was in response to a question from the interviewer, which he might not have listened to carefully. The next day Mr Beetham said he was considering resigning because the new leadership was rejecting basic Social Credit philosophy. This promoted Morrison to publicly retract his comments, and affirm that of course the national dividend would be retained as an important part of Social Credit policy.
Beetham remained active in politics despite losing the leadership. He contested his old seat under the party's new name (New Zealand Democratic Party) in 1987; in 1990 he broke away from the Democrats and assumed leadership of a new party, under the old Social Credit banner; in 1992, he attempted to put together a coalition of centrist parties, the New Zealand Centre Coalition, but was overtaken by the course of events as numerous new parties were formed around that time and crowded out the political spectrum. This article is about the modern party based around the social credit theory The 1987 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament. The 1990 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament 's 43rd term. Year 1992 ( MCMXCII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display full 1992 Gregorian calendar)
His last electoral campaign was in 1996 as an independent candidate for his old Rangitikei electorate. The 1996 New Zealand general election was a nationwide vote to determine the shape of the New Zealand Parliament. Although placed fourth, he received almost four thousand votes - one of the best-ever showings for an independent candidate.
Personal factors
Bruce Beetham was known as a liberal on human rights, a conservative on moral and social issues, and a pragmatist on economic matters. He disliked confrontation, preferring to work for consensus in decision-making. He was married twice, and had four children. He died of heart failure in 1997 at the age of 61.
References
- Bryant, George. "Beetham", Palmerston North, The Dunmore Press, 1981. ISBN 0-908564-73-2
External links
- John C. Turmel, B. Eng - his somewhat rambling Social Credit page
- A History of the UBI Debate in New Zealand, by Alison Marshall, 1996
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