Jack Luxton

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

Biography

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. He continued a family involvement with the Tatua Dairy Company as a director for several years.

He entered Parliament as the result of the 1966 New Zealand general election as the National Party member for Piako and then, after boundary changes for the 1978 election, Matamata. 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. 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. He died in 2005, aged 82, in Morrinsville, and was survived by his wife, Margaret, and their four children.

Notes

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