Eric Halstead

{{Infobox officeholder

| honorific-prefix = The Honourable

| name = Eric Halstead

| honorific-suffix = {{post-nominals|country=NZL|CBE|ED|size=100%}}

|image = Eric Halstead.jpg

|imagesize =

|order2 = 20th Minister of Industries and Commerce

|term_start2 = 23 March 1956

|term_end2 = 12 December 1957

|primeminister2 = Sidney Holland
Keith Holyoake

|predecessor2 = Dean Eyre

|successor2 = Phil Holloway

|order4 = 5th Minister for Social Security

|term_start4 = 26 November 1954

|term_end4 = 23 March 1956

|primeminister4 = Sidney Holland

|predecessor4 = William Bodkin

|successor4 = Dean Eyre

|parliament6 = New Zealand

|constituency_MP6 = Tamaki

|term_start6 = 30 November 1949

|term_end6 = 30 November 1957

|predecessor6 = Tom Skinner

|successor6 = Bob Tizard

|birth_name =

|birth_date = 26 May 1912

|birth_place = Mangaweka, New Zealand

|death_date = 18 June 1991 (aged 79)

|death_place = Auckland, New Zealand

|spouse = {{marriage|Millicent Joan Stewart|1940}}

|children =

|party = National

|religion =

|alma_mater = Auckland University

}}

Eric Henry Halstead {{post-nominals|country=NZL|CBE|ED|size=85%}} (26 May 1912 – 18 June 1991) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party and later a diplomat.

Biography

=Early life and career=

Halstead was born in Auckland in 1912, and educated at Auckland Grammar School and Auckland University where he attained a Master of Arts and a Bachelor of Commerce. He was president of the Auckland University Students' Association for one year.{{sfn|Gustafson|1986|p=317}} In 1940, he married Millicent Joan Stewart; they had four children.{{Citation needed|date=October 2012}} While a student he had his first involvement in politics after being invited to hear National Party MP Gordon Coates speak in 1938.{{cite web |title=Interview with Eric Halstead |last=Gustafson |first=Barry |author-link=Barry Gustafson |url=https://natlib.govt.nz/records/35848705 |website=National Library of New Zealand |date=19 July 1985 |access-date=24 March 2022 }}

He served as a major in the NZEF during World War II between 1941 and 1945.{{sfn|Gustafson|1986|p=317}}

After being demobilized he became a teacher and was head of the commerce and accountancy department at Seddon Technical College from 1945 to 1949.{{sfn|Gustafson|1986|p=317}}

=Political career=

{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{NZ election link year|1949}}

|end = 1951

|term = 29th

|electorate = {{NZ electorate link|Tamaki}}

|party = New Zealand National Party

}}

{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{NZ election link year|1951}}

|end = 1954

|term = 30th

|electorate = Tamaki

|party = New Zealand National Party

}}

{{NZ parlbox

|start = {{NZ election link year|1954}}

|end = 1957

|term = 31st

|electorate = Tamaki

|party = New Zealand National Party

}}

He represented the Tamaki electorate from {{NZ election link year|1949}} to 1957, when he was defeated by Bob Tizard.{{sfn|Wilson|1985|p=202}} He was a liberal within the National Party and, alongside {{NZ electorate link|North Shore}} MP Dean Eyre, he supported the alternative drainage scheme in Auckland proposed by Dove-Myer Robinson.

He was the minister assisting the Prime Minister in 1954, a role in which Halstead often found his time occupied by simply delivering messages between the Prime Minister Sidney Holland and the Deputy Prime Minister Keith Holyoake.{{sfn|Gustafson|1986|pp=69–70}} He held several cabinet posts during the last term of the First National Government including; Minister for Social Security from 1954 to 1956,Minister of Industries and Commerce and Minister for Customs from 1956 to 1957.Lambert & Palenski: The New Zealand Almanac, 1982. {{ISBN|0-908570-55-4}} As a minister he worked out a welfare reciprocity deal with the United Kingdom and he established the Tourist Hotel Corporation.

After his defeat in 1957 Halstead became a director of Air New Zealand.{{sfn|Gustafson|1986|p=317}} Halstead remained an active member of the National Party well after his defeat, despite not wishing to re-enter parliament by standing in Tamaki again. He was a longtime member of the party's Dominion Council, deputy-chairman of National's Auckland division and vice-president of the party.{{sfn|Gustafson|1986|pp=230, 317}} Ahead of the {{NZ election link year|1966}} he accepted nomination for the National candidacy in the much safer seat of {{NZ electorate link|Remuera}}, but lost to Allan Highet.{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19660407.2.49 |title=14 Seeking Remuera |work=The Press |date=7 April 1966 |volume=CV |issue=31029 |page=3 }}{{cite news |url=https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19660502.2.206 |title=Candidate For Remuera |work=The Press |date=2 May 1966 |volume=CV |issue=31048 |page=15 }}

=Diplomatic career=

He later served as Ambassador to Thailand and Laos 1970–1973,[http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Embassies/3-NZ-Ambassadors/countries-t.php New Zealand Heads of Overseas Missions – NZ Ministry of Fopreign Affairs and Trade]{{sfn|Gustafson|1986|p=317}} then Ambassador to Italy and Ambassador to Iraq concurrently from 1976–1980[http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Embassies/3-NZ-Ambassadors/countries-i.php New Zealand Heads of Overseas Missions – NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade] and Ambassador to Saudi Arabia (while resident in Rome) 1977–1980.

=Later life and death=

In the 1980 New Year Honours, Halstead was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire.{{sfn|Gustafson|1986|p=317}}{{London Gazette |issue=48043 |date=31 December 1979 |page=26 |supp=3}}

After returning from World War II he developed an interest in war history. In 1989, a book put together by Halstead, entitled Freyberg's Men, was refused permission to be published by the New Zealand Government because it bore too close a resemblance to copyright material originally published by the New Zealand Army Board and War History Branch, Department of Internal Affairs.{{Cite book|title=Whare Raupo|last=Gavin|first=McLean|publisher=Reed|year=2007|location=NZ|pages=229}}

He died in Auckland in 1991.{{cite news |title=New Zealand Herald |date=22 June 1991}}

Notes

References

{{cite book |last = Gustafson |first = Barry |author-link = Barry Gustafson |title = The First 50 Years : A History of the New Zealand National Party |year = 1986 |publisher = Reed Methuen |location = Auckland |isbn = 0-474-00177-6}}
{{cite book |last= Wilson |first= James Oakley |title= New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 |edition= 4th |orig-year= First ed. published 1913 |year= 1985 |publisher= V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer |location= Wellington |oclc=154283103}}

{{S-ttl | title = Minister for Social Security |years=1954–1956}}