James Wright Munro

James Wright (Jim) Munro (1870 – 27 May 1945) was a New Zealand politician of the Labour Party.

He represented the electorate of Dunedin North in Parliament from 1922 (after a by-election) to 1925, and from 1928 to 1945, when he died.

He was not appointed a minister in 1935 as he had a reputation for being lazy, and had embarrassed Savage a week before the 1935 election by stating that:

“if anyone tried to stop a Labour government carrying out its policy, Labour might have to ‘smash things’ and put directors and managers in gaol on a bread and water diet ‘as some of our Communist friends were dealt with’ until they learnt to obey the government" (Gustafson, page 177).

He was on the Dunedin City Council and Dunedin Harbour Board. He was born in Dunedin, and was active in Unions and in the Socialist Party then the Labour Party. He had stood for several Dunedin seats from 1908. He was a baker, and started his own business in partnership with Peter Neilson (who also became a Labour MP) after victimisation by employers.

References

• New Zealand Parliamentary Record 1840-1984 by J. O. Wilson (1985, Government Printer, Wellington)
• From the Cradle to the Grave: a biography of Michael Joseph Savage by Barry Gustafson (1986, Reed Methuen, Auckland) ISBN 0474001385 (with Biographical Appendix)