Sydney George Smith

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He is not to be confused with Sidney Walter Smith, National MP for the Bay of Islands

Sydney George Smith (c1879 – 1943) was a New Zealand politician of the Liberal Party and then the National Party, and a cabinet minister.

He was Minister of Education in the Liberal-Reform coalition Government of New Zealand from 1934 to 1935, and was also Minister of Labour.

He represented the Taranaki electorate from 1918 to 1925. At the 1918 contest, Smith was an Independent Labour candidate and in 1922 a Liberal Labour candidate (Wilson, p.235; Gustafson, p.344). In 1925 he stood unsuccessfully for New Plymouth, but in 1928 he was successful, and he returned to Parliament until he was defeated in 1938 by Labour candidate Frederick Frost.

He was a son of the Taranaki Member of Parliament Edward Metcalf Smith. He worked in the New Zealand Railways for 20 years, and for 13 years held office in the Amalgamated Socety of Railway Servants.

[edit] References

• The First 50 Years: A History of the New Zealand National Party by Barry Gustafson (1986, Reed Methuen, Auckland; in biographical appendix of National MPs, page 344) ISBN 0474001776
• New Zealand Parliamentary Record 1840-1984 by J. O. Wilson (1985, Government Printer, Wellington)