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Tom Shand
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Tom Shand
Thomas Philip Shand (16 April 1911 – 11 December 1969) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party.
Shand was born in 1911 in Ngapara, North Otago. His parents were Gilbert Esme Tressillian Shand and Constance Kippenberger, both of whom were from prominent Canterbury families, who owned and operated a farm of their own in Ngapara. In 1922 the family moved to Kaikōura, establishing a new farm at Seaward Valley. He received his education at St Andrew's College, Christ's College, the University of Canterbury.
His studies were cut short by the onset of the Great Depression and he returned home to work as a shepherd on the family farm from 1931 to 1933. He then worked freezing and flax industries from 1933 to 1935, taking an active role in trade union affairs. He was also an active sportsman, competing as a boxer while a student and also played sub-union rugby in Canterbury. On 8 February 1937 he married the medical doctor Claudia Lillian Weston. Her father, Claude Weston, was the second president of the National Party. Her mother, Agnes Weston, would later be called to the New Zealand Legislative Council as part of the suicide squad. In 1942 he finally completed his bachelor's degree in commerce.
The same year he completed his degree Shand volunteered for the Royal New Zealand Air Force and began flight training. He was gazetted as a pilot in January 1943 and in June that year he was promoted to Flying Officer. Between April 1944 and February 1945 he flew Hudson bombers and Catalina flying boats in the South Pacific campaign out of Fiji, Funafuti and Emirau. In 1945 he developed a hearing defect which resulted in him being placed on the reserve until World War II ended due to high-tone deafness.
Shand returned to his family farm and proceeded to take a course at Canterbury Agricultural College in farm management.
He first stood for Parliament in 1943 against the incumbent Labour representative in the Marlborough electorate, Ted Meachen, and was unsuccessful. At the next election in 1946, he was successful and held the Marlborough electorate until his death in 1969. Shand quickly became known in Parliament for his "fiery robustness" and became known as a passionate yet outspoken debater. He gained notoriety in 1947 when he tore up the pages of his copy of the Labour government's budget, though it was subsequently revealed he had cut most of the way through it with scissors beforehand.
In 1953, Shand was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal.
He was a cabinet minister in the First National Government as Postmaster-General, Minister of Civil Aviation and Minister for Rehabilitation from 1954 to 1957. He oversaw the expansion of Wellington International Airport and also made extra land provisions for returned servicemen, as based on his own experience as a rehabilitated farmer he was supportive of them becoming farmers. On one noted occasion Shand lost an argument in cabinet. Impetuously he said "Well gentlemen, if that's the way you feel about it, I'm getting out" as he left his chair, to which Prime Minister Sidney Holland retorted "Mr. Shand, if you go through that door you won't be coming back again" prompting Shand to hurriedly resume his seat. His elevation to cabinet was owed more to a desire by party leaders to pacify him, thinking it was easier to control the otherwise individualistic Shand if he was in cabinet (and thus bound by cabinet collective responsibility).
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Tom Shand
Thomas Philip Shand (16 April 1911 – 11 December 1969) was a New Zealand politician of the National Party.
Shand was born in 1911 in Ngapara, North Otago. His parents were Gilbert Esme Tressillian Shand and Constance Kippenberger, both of whom were from prominent Canterbury families, who owned and operated a farm of their own in Ngapara. In 1922 the family moved to Kaikōura, establishing a new farm at Seaward Valley. He received his education at St Andrew's College, Christ's College, the University of Canterbury.
His studies were cut short by the onset of the Great Depression and he returned home to work as a shepherd on the family farm from 1931 to 1933. He then worked freezing and flax industries from 1933 to 1935, taking an active role in trade union affairs. He was also an active sportsman, competing as a boxer while a student and also played sub-union rugby in Canterbury. On 8 February 1937 he married the medical doctor Claudia Lillian Weston. Her father, Claude Weston, was the second president of the National Party. Her mother, Agnes Weston, would later be called to the New Zealand Legislative Council as part of the suicide squad. In 1942 he finally completed his bachelor's degree in commerce.
The same year he completed his degree Shand volunteered for the Royal New Zealand Air Force and began flight training. He was gazetted as a pilot in January 1943 and in June that year he was promoted to Flying Officer. Between April 1944 and February 1945 he flew Hudson bombers and Catalina flying boats in the South Pacific campaign out of Fiji, Funafuti and Emirau. In 1945 he developed a hearing defect which resulted in him being placed on the reserve until World War II ended due to high-tone deafness.
Shand returned to his family farm and proceeded to take a course at Canterbury Agricultural College in farm management.
He first stood for Parliament in 1943 against the incumbent Labour representative in the Marlborough electorate, Ted Meachen, and was unsuccessful. At the next election in 1946, he was successful and held the Marlborough electorate until his death in 1969. Shand quickly became known in Parliament for his "fiery robustness" and became known as a passionate yet outspoken debater. He gained notoriety in 1947 when he tore up the pages of his copy of the Labour government's budget, though it was subsequently revealed he had cut most of the way through it with scissors beforehand.
In 1953, Shand was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal.
He was a cabinet minister in the First National Government as Postmaster-General, Minister of Civil Aviation and Minister for Rehabilitation from 1954 to 1957. He oversaw the expansion of Wellington International Airport and also made extra land provisions for returned servicemen, as based on his own experience as a rehabilitated farmer he was supportive of them becoming farmers. On one noted occasion Shand lost an argument in cabinet. Impetuously he said "Well gentlemen, if that's the way you feel about it, I'm getting out" as he left his chair, to which Prime Minister Sidney Holland retorted "Mr. Shand, if you go through that door you won't be coming back again" prompting Shand to hurriedly resume his seat. His elevation to cabinet was owed more to a desire by party leaders to pacify him, thinking it was easier to control the otherwise individualistic Shand if he was in cabinet (and thus bound by cabinet collective responsibility).
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