Political party Labour Party Party New Zealand Labour Party Died 1970 | Role New Zealand politician Name Michael Connelly | |
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Michael Connelly (29 April 1887 – 30 October 1970) was a New Zealand trade unionist, politician of the Labour Party, and a Member of the Legislative Council (upper house) from 1936 to 1950.
Biography
Born in Kakaramea in 1887, he was active in the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants as Secretary of the Thorndon (Wellington) branch 1914–1918 and national president 1923–1925.
He was a Dunedin City Councillor 1944–1947 and 1950–1959, and unsuccessfully contested the Dunedin mayoralty in 1956 and the Port Chalmers parliamentary electorate in 1925. He was a director of the Grey River Argus when it became a Labour newspaper.
He was a railway officer, i.e. a civil servant when he was appointed to the Legislative Council on 9 March 1936 by the first Labour Government, hence a special act, the Michael Connelly Appointment Validation Act 1936 (technically a private act) had to be passed to validate his appointment. His term ended on 8 March 1943, and he was reappointed the following day for another seven years. When his second term ended on 8 March 1950, the first National Government was in power and he was not reappointed. From 1948 until the end of his term in 1950, he was Chairman of Committees of the Legislative Council.
Connelly died in Christchurch on 30 October 1970 and was buried at Andersons Bay Cemetery, Dunedin. His son, Mick Connelly, was a Labour Party MP and cabinet minister.