James Walker Bain

{{short description|New Zealand politician}}

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James Walker Bain (1841 – 29 September 1899) was a 19th-century New Zealand politician. He was a significant businessman in Invercargill and Southland.

Bain was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1841.{{cite news |title=Obituary |url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=OW18991005.2.114 |access-date=7 June 2016 |work=Otago Witness |issue=2379 |date=5 October 1899 |page=45}} His parents were the spirit merchant John Bain and his wife, Elizabeth Middlemass.{{DNZB|last=Hutching|first=Megan|id=3b3|title=Wilhelmina Sherriff Bain|access-date=23 April 2017}} He received his education at the Free Church Normal School and then at a private academy. He started with the printing company Oliver and Boyd and learned the trade of a compositor.{{cite book |title=The Cyclopedia of New Zealand : Otago & Southland Provincial Districts |year=1905 |url=http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly/tei-Cyc04Cycl-t1-body1-d6-d2-d4.html#name-413586-mention |publisher=The Cyclopedia of New Zealand |author=Cyclopedia Company Limited |access-date= 7 June 2016 |location=Christchurch |chapter=Former Members Of The House Of Representatives | page=794}}

He arrived in Port Chalmers in New Zealand, Otago's harbour, on 23 September 1858 on the Jura from Glasgow.{{cite news |title=Shipping News |url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=OW18580925.2.6 |access-date=6 June 2016 |work=Otago Witness |issue=356 |date=25 September 1858 |page=5}} His parents, five sisters and one brother arrived in Otago on the Gloucester three months later; one of his sisters was Wilhelmina Sherriff Bain. He initially worked for the Otago Witness before going to Auckland for two years. He moved to Invercargill at the beginning of 1861. Together with George Smallfield, he founded Invercargill's first newspaper, the Southland News and Foveaux Straits Herald, and its first edition was published on 14 February 1861. The paper later became the Southland Daily News and existed until 1967, when it was bought by the rival The Southland Times.{{cite web | title=Information on past Mayors of Invercargill City and the location of their headstones in the Invercargill Cemeteries | url=http://icc.govt.nz/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Past-Mayors-updated-March-20161.pdf | publisher=Invercargill City Council | access-date=7 June 2016}} Bain founded the Mataura Paper Mill in 1875. He was a significant businessman in Invercargill, was president of the Southland Building Society for the first 30 years of its existence. He was a member of the Southland Education Board for many years, and was at times its chairman.

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|start = {{NZ election link year|1879}}

|end = 1881

|term = 7th

|electorate = {{NZ electorate link|Invercargill}}

|party = Independent politician

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He represented the Invercargill electorate in Parliament from {{NZ election link year|1879}} to 1881, when he retired.{{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 }} He was Mayor of Invercargill in 1891–1892.

Bain died unexpectedly on the morning of 29 September 1899 after falling ill on 26 September. He was buried at St. John's Cemetery in Invercargill.