Jack Luxton

John Finlay Luxton QSO (14 August 1923 – 29 August 2005) was a dairy farmer and New Zealand Member of Parliament.

Biography

New Zealand Parliament
Years	Term	Electorate		Party
1966–1969	35th	Piako		National
1969–1972	36th	Piako		National
1972–1975	37th	Piako		National
1975–1978	38th	Piako		National
1978–1981	39th	Matamata		National
1981–1984	40th	Matamata		National
1984–1987	41st	Matamata		National

Luxton was born in 1923 in Waitoa, between Morrinsville and Te Aroha. He attended the local primary school, followed by Hamilton Technical College. After leaving school, he was a dairy farmer in Waitoa. He became prominent in the Waikato branch of Federated Farmers, serving as dominion councillor before his election to Parliament.[1] He continued a family involvement with the Tatua Dairy Company as a director for several years.

He entered Parliament in 1966 as the National Party member for Piako and then, after boundary changes for the 1978 election, Matamata.[2] He represented the predominantly rural electorate for 21 years to 1987. He was elected Chairman of Committees in 1976, a position he held until National's defeat in 1984.[3] He was particularly interested in Pacific Island affairs, and in 1976 led a Government-sponsored tour of eight Pacific nations to investigate local industries, with a view to increasing New Zealand involvement there.

On his retirement from politics in 1987, his son John Luxton succeeded him in the Matamata (later Karapiro) electorate, from 1987 to 1999.

After politics, Luxton took an active part in his family's horticulture block in Katikati.

In the 1987 Queen's Birthday Honours, Luxton was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for public services.[4] He died in 2005, aged 82, in Morrinsville, and was survived by his wife, Margaret, and their four children.

Notes

1. Gustafson 1986, p. 327.
2. Wilson 1985, p. 213.
3. Wilson 1985, p. 252.
4. "No. 50950". The London Gazette (4th supplement). 13 June 1987. p. 33.

References

• Gustafson, Barry (1986). The First 50 Years : A History of the New Zealand National Party. Auckland: Reed Methuen. ISBN 0-474-00177-6.
• Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand parliamentary record, 1840–1984 (4 ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.