William Henry Peter Barber

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William Henry Peter Barber (1857–1943) was a New Zealand Member of Parliament for Newtown in Wellington.

Contents 1 Member of Parliament 1.1 New Liberal Party 2 References 3 Further reading

[edit] Member of Parliament

William Barber represented the Wellington electorate of Newtown for the whole of its existence, from 1902 to 1908. In 1908 he was defeated for the reconstituted electorate of Wellington South.

[edit] New Liberal Party

Barber was associated with the New Liberal Party. His favourite idea was one shared by the other New Liberals-that the institutions of local government should be strengthened and given more scope and power. He heartily supported Henry Ell's 1904 Municipal Corporations Bill which provided for borough councils to hold referenda ^[1]

Barber also advocated state fire insurance, state coal mines, and the old radical favourite, reduction of taxes on the necessities of life. However, he did not favour the elective executive ^[2]

Barber was a successful businessman, a director of the Wellington Woollen Company and Chairman of Directors of the Wellington Opera House Company. He was elected to the Wellington City Council in 1891.

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Whitcher, G. F. (1966), The New Liberal Party 1905 [M.A.(Hons.) - University of Canterbury] 

• Wilson, James Oakley (1985), The New Zealand Parliamentary Record 1840-1984 (4th ed.), Wellington, [N.Z.]: Government Printer