Bill Veitch

New Zealand politician

William Andrew Veitch (25 May 1870 – 1 January 1961) was a New Zealand politician. He began his career in the labour movement, but became a strong opponent of more militant socialism, and rejected the radical views held by many of his colleagues.

Veitch was born in Port of Menteith, a small town in Perthshire, Scotland. After receiving a basic education, at the same school his father was a teacher, he worked for the post and telegraph service until 1887. He then moved to New Zealand, briefly taking up gum digging before returning to telegraphs. In 1889 he gained employment with the New Zealand Railways Department, starting as a cleaner he eventually became an engine driver by 1908. Veitch was stationed in various North Island towns for the duration of his career except for two years in Canterbury. During his time on the railways, he became active in the Amalgamated Society of Railway Servants, a rail workers union. He was the secretary of the Cross Creek branch from 1904 to 1906 and then proceeded to become chairman of the Wanganui branch in 1907. Both Veitch and Smith were re elected at the as labour affiliated candidates, though both were in fact moving towards a closer alliance with the Liberals.

In 1922, he finally joined what remained of the Liberal Party. The Liberals were disunited and disorganised, and Veitch was a significant figure in the party's rejuvenation. At the the new Liberal leader George Forbes was not well known outside the South Island so the Liberal campaign in the North Island was run by Veitch instead. In 1928, Veitch joined his faction of the Liberals with others led by Forbes and Albert Davy, creating the United Party. Veitch and Forbes both contested the leadership of the new party, but in the end, the position was won by Sir Joseph Ward, a former Liberal Prime Minister, who had been brought in by Davy as a compromise candidate. Overlooked for the deputy leadership Veitch was then made president of the party.

When the United Party formed a government, Veitch one of the few members of the government with extensive parliamentary experience, became a member of Cabinet. New Prime Minister Sir Joseph Ward appointed him Minister of Transport, Minister of Labour and Minister of Mines. Ward resigned due to poor health in 1930 and contested the leadership of the United Party again. He was eliminated in the first ballot, with Forbes winning the role. When Forbes reshuffled the cabinet, Veitch dropped the mining and labour portfolios and was instead made Minister of Railways while also retaining transport. When United formed a coalition with the Reform Party in 1931, Veitch lost his position to make room for ministers from Reform. Later, when the coalition government devalued the currency, Veitch began to reject his party's leadership, and tried to convince William Downie Stewart to form a new party. He was then defeated in his re election bid as a Democrat for Wanganui in the 1935 general election by the Labour candidate Joe Cotterill. His son Henry Charles Veitch stood at the next election in 1938 for the National Party (the successor to the United Reform coalition) but also lost to Cotterill. Considerably later, in 1943, Veitch stood for the National Party in the Wellington Suburbs electorate, but was unsuccessful, losing to Labour's Harry Combs. Veitch died in Paraparaumu in 1961, survived by his six children. and the 1937 Coronation Medal for services to New Zealand.

He married Emma Elizabeth Gurr in Wanganui on 7 April 1896 with whom he had three sons and three daughters. Emma died in 1944 and he would remarry to Ann Sinclair Davidson on 19 May 1951 in Dunedin. Ann later died in 1959.