22 Facts About Frank Langstone

Frank Langstone was a New Zealand Member of Parliament, Cabinet Minister and High Commissioner to Canada.

Frank Langstone was the fourth of five children to Charles Walter Langston, a vet, Margaret McDermott, a seamstress.

Frank Langstone's father abandoned the family and not long after his mother died on 23 December 1890.

Frank Langstone's older sister Katherine took care of the family, thus financial pressures prevented him having a proper education, though he was an extensive reader.

Frank Langstone was involved with setting up the left-wing Maoriland Worker newspaper in 1910.

Frank Langstone later became a shearer and was involved in the Wellington branch of the New Zealand Shearers' Union before moving to Te Kuiti, in the King Country in 1913 to run a local restaurant.

Frank Langstone briefly lived in Auckland before returning to Te Kuiti in 1918 to become the proprietor of a railway restaurant in Taumarunui, and a fish-and-chip shop in 1919.

Frank Langstone was a foundation member of the Labour Party in 1916 after it absorbed the SDP.

Frank Langstone first contested the Waimarino electorate in the 1919 election, but was beaten by the incumbent, Robert William Smith of the Liberal Party.

Frank Langstone held the electorate until 1925 when he was defeated, returning to the Taumarunui restaurant, which Agnes managed during his time in Parliament.

Frank Langstone won back Waimarino in 1928, this time holding it until 1946.

Frank Langstone then switched to the Auckland electorate of Roskill from 1946 to 1949.

Frank Langstone was President of the New Zealand Labour Party from 1933 to 1934.

Frank Langstone was described as "a cheerful, shortish extrovert with a better brain than most people thought he had".

Frank Langstone was appointed Minister of Lands and Commissioner of State Forests from 1935 to 1942 by Michael Joseph Savage during the First Labour Government.

Frank Langstone impressed senior civil servants with his administrative abilities and had particular concerns regarding soil erosion, river control and afforestation.

Frank Langstone returned after only six months later, he resigned from cabinet and publicly alleged that Fraser had double-crossed him after promising him the position of Minister to the United States which was given to Walter Nash instead.

In September 1943 The Evening Post newspaper claimed that Frank Langstone had been recalled because of serious misconduct.

Frank Langstone opposed New Zealand joining the International Monetary Fund.

In 1947 Frank Langstone proposed that the government make the state-owned Bank of New Zealand the sole legal issuer of bank credit over loans and overdrafts in an attempt to secure state control over the means of exchange.

In 1949 Frank Langstone resigned from the Labour Party over the issue of peacetime conscription.

Frank Langstone died of a heart attack on 15 June 1969 in Auckland, survived by Mollie, and three sons and two daughters from his first marriage.