HOGG, ALEXANDER WILSON (1845-1920) was born in Glasgow and educated in the primary schools there and at the Andersonian College. At the age of 13 he emigrated to Victoria, where he engaged in mining, storekeeping and journalism. He helped to form a miners' protection league, one object of which was to institute courts of arbitration in place of courts of law. In 1877 he crossed to Dunedin, and was on the staff of the Southern Mercury and for some years manager and editor of the Dunedin Age. From there he went to Ashburton, where he conducted a paper, then to Timaru and finally he became part proprietor and editor of the Wairarapa Star (Masterton) (1881-92).

Hogg was elected to Parliament for Masterton in 1890 as a Liberal, and sat continuously for that electorate till 1911, when he was defeated by G. R. Sykes. He was chairman of the lands committee (1902-05). In 1909 he was Minister of Labour and Customs in the Ward Government, but he withdrew owing to a difference of opinion on matters of policy. He was a member of the school committee, the Wellington education board, the licensing committee and the land board (1889-1904), and of the Victoria College council (1898-1913). A fearless and outspoken politician, Hogg was scarcely fitted for the restrictions of team work and found it difficult to attune his opinions to those of the cabinet, with which he worked for only a few months. He was a firm believer in the leasehold tenure and in small settlement, and fought unceasingly for the formation of roads in the backblocks. Hogg died on 16 Nov 1920.

N.Z.P.D., 11, 14 Mar 1921; Russell (p); Evening Post, 18 Nov 1920. Portrait: Parliament House.

Reference: Volume 1, page 218

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