Hugh Watt

Hugh Watt PC JP (19 March 1912 – 4 February 1980) was a New Zealand politician who was a Labour member of Parliament and the acting prime minister of New Zealand between 31 August and 6 September 1974, following the death of Prime Minister Norman Kirk. He had been the fifth deputy prime minister of New Zealand since 8 December 1972. Watt later served as high commissioner to the United Kingdom.

Watt was born in Perth, Western Australia, in 1912. His father, William Watt, was a mining engineer, and his family emigrated to New Zealand in 1914, when he was two years old, settling in Auckland. His father lost an arm in Australia and moved back to New Zealand to take up a position as a watchman at the Auckland Harbour Board. Watt attended Remuera Primary School, where his headmaster was Sir Leslie Munro's father.

Watt attended Seddon Memorial Technical College, where he studied engineering and also played senior grade rugby for the Tech Old Boys' club. He became an apprentice engineer and joined the Engineers' Union, of which he was a member for 16 years. He enjoyed his union membership but never aspired to hold any office within it. He established his own engineering business in 1947. He was director of the business, Hugh Watt & Coy Ltd, which operated in both engineering operations and sheet metal working. He continued to run the business (even while a minister) until 1969, when he accepted a doctor's advice to lessen his workload. Previously, in 1962, he had also reduced his workload by resigning as executive director of the Auckland City Development Association after one year in the role. He was succeeded by Allan Highet (later a National MP).

Watt was married twice: first to Alice Merry Fowke from 1935 to 1965, when they divorced; and then to Irene Frances Ray from 1968. He had two sons and two daughters with his first wife. Watt was Australian-born, like Labour Party founders such as Harry Holland, Michael Joseph Savage, Bob Semple, and Paddy Webb, and later MPs such as Mabel Howard and Jerry Skinner. He was born on the same street where Australian Prime Minister John Curtin, of whom Watt was a great admirer, once lived.

Watt was the chairman of the Onehunga Labour Representation Committee and a member of the Labour Party's national executive. He stood unsuccessfully for Labour in Remuera in 1949 and in Parnell in 1951. His initial failures were to help his subsequent development as a politician, saying, "I learned early in my political life that you've got to take the kicks with the congratulations". At the 1953 local elections he was elected a member of the Auckland Harbour Board (his father's former employer) for the Onehunga, Newmarket, and combined districts. He was then successful in winning the parliamentary seat of Onehunga in a 1953 by-election after the death of Arthur Osborne, and held it until 1975.

Watt was first appointed as a minister in the Second Labour Government led by Walter Nash; he was Minister of Works from 1957 to 1960, and additionally, Minister of Electricity from 1958 until 1960. He resigned from the Auckland Harbour Board in December 1957 after his appointment to the cabinet. As Minister of Works, he quickly became known for both his vitality and his genial style of inspecting infrastructure sites. During the Second Labour Government, he oversaw one of the most constructive and positive periods of public development New Zealand had seen. He started construction on the Benmore Dam and ensured that when it was completed it was £12 million under the original estimates. Watt was also the Chairman of the National Roads Board from 1957 to 1960. He thought his reform of the National Roads Board levy system was his biggest achievement in the government's term and saw a large improvement in urban motorways as a result of diversifying the board members to come from cities as well as rural areas.

In January 1960 Watt signed an agreement with Consolidated Zinc to establish an aluminium smelter to be built in Southland to make aluminium out of alumina shipped from Australia. The smelter was to be powered by a huge hydro-electric project at Lakes Manapouri and Te Anau. The decision was not without controversy as Watt received many letters of protest warning against damage to the scenery which would be caused by raising the lake levels. The New Zealand Scenery Preservation Society sent a deputation to meet with Nash and Watt. Watt quoted an assurance made by the company that the engineering works would be constructed so as to enhance the scenic effects, nor would the lake levels be raised so high as to endanger the town of Te Anau. Labour's manifesto at the 1957 election pledged industrialisation and the smelter was seen as following this pledge. Industrialisation was emphasised even more in Labour's manifesto at the 1960 election which Labour was to lose ending his role as a minister.

Soon after the government's defeat, Watt was speculated as Labour's likely candidate for Mayor of Auckland at the 1962 local elections. Labour was putting up a full council ticket for the first time in several election cycles and thought that the Labour ticket should include a mayoral candidate as well to assist in publicity. Watt was already well known as an MP and former minister and thought ideal for the role. However, Watt ruled himself out stating he felt he could make a greater contribution to the city's development by remaining in national politics and that he wished to do so by serving in the cabinet of the next Labour government.