Alex McLeod (politician)

Alexander Donald McLeod (13 July 1872 – 20 October 1938) was a Reform Party Member of Parliament in the Wairarapa region of New Zealand. He was Minister of Lands (1924–1928) and Industries and Commerce (1926–1928) in the Reform Government.

Early life
McLeod was born in the Wairarapa in 1872. He was the third son of William McLeod, one of the pioneers of the district. He became an apprentice on his father's farm and afterwards ran his own sheep farm. He was elected onto the Featherston Road Board and, when it was formed in 1902, the Featherston County Council. He remained on the county council until 1919.

He had an adventurous streak in his youth and worked his way to travel to various countries around the world. This included a period in North America and while there took part in the Klondike Gold Rush.

Member of Parliament
McLeod won the Wairarapa electorate in the 1919 general election in a triangular contest, defeating the incumbent, J. T. Marryat Hornsby of the Liberal Party. He worked closely with Prime Minister William Massey while the latter was ill with cancer and was added to the cabinet as Minister of Lands in 1924. When Massey died in 1925 McLeod was one of several candidates named as a possible candidate to succeed Massey as party leader. During the caucus meeting which conducted the leadership ballot McLeod, having realised he had no realistic chance of winning, withdrew as a candidate. Ultimately Gordon Coates replaced Massey as leader. In a reshuffle in 1926 Coates additionally appointed McLeod as Minister of Industries and Commerce. McLeod promoted closer settlement of land and during his tenure in the lands portfolio there was a steady increase in the acreage of cultivated land. Critics of his thought the pace could have been increased. He also allotted public land to help with resettlement of World War I veterans. McLeod was the New Zealand government representative to Australia in May 1927 at the inauguration of the new Parliament House when the federal capital moved to Canberra. At the 1928 he was defeated by Thomas William McDonald of the United Party.

Just before the, the United and Reform parties announced a coalition, following the collapse of an earlier coalition between United and Labour. Part of the agreement was that all sitting members who support the coalition would in turn receive the official endorsement as coalition candidate. This pragmatic decision caused trouble in those electorates where the voters were not satisfied with the incumbent's performance, for example in the Wairarapa and electorates. Local electorate committees were not supportive of McDonald and supported McLeod instead. Consequently, McLeod stood as a Coalition Independent or Independent Reform candidate in 1931 and won the election with a 7% margin of the votes. McLeod was a supporter of the coalition in the house.

Back in parliament he was critical of the creation of the new "anti-socialist" Democrat Party in 1934. He was particularly critical of the presence of big donor money being behind the party. He made a speech in parliament about it and, under parliamentary privilege, named wealthy businessman William Goodfellow as being the funder of the party. In 1935, McLeod was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal. He retired from politics in 1935.

Later life
McLeod was a member of the Wellington Harbour Board (April 1919 – April 1921) and the Wairarapa member of the Wellington Hospital Board. He was a steward of the Wairarapa Racing Club.

McLeod died at his home at Martinborough on 20 October 1938, and was buried at Martinborough Cemetery. He was survived by his wife and children, his son Norman Murdoch McLeod having drowned while duck-shooting at Kahutara in 1936.