REID, DONALD (1833-1919) was born at Newton Farm, Strathtay, Perthshire. He was educated at Burns's academy in Edinburgh, and afterwards at Daniel Stewart's endowed school in his native village. At the age of 15 he sailed for New Zealand in the Mary, and after calling at New Plymouth, Nelson, and Wellington, he landed on 10 Apr 1849 at Port Chalmers. His first employment was on Valpy's farm at Forbury.

For his first three years in Otago Reid worked at harvesting in the summer and cutting and splitting timber in the winter. His determination was to be a farmer and he was able in 1852, out of his earnings, to buy 20 acres in south Dunedin, about where the benevolent institution was later erected. In the following year he acquired 180 acres of swampy land, on which in later years arose the suburbs of South Dunedin and St Kilda. After farming here for three years he sold out, and in 1857 purchased the farm at Taieri which he called Salisbury and occupied until 1912. Reid was a good farmer and a far-seeing forester, and in time he made Salisbury a model estate of 6,300 acres, well grassed and with extensive plantations, mainly of bluegums raised by himself. Shortly after he had settled down here the diggings broke out (1861) and Reid, in view of the difficulty in keeping farm labour, made a bargain with his men to stay with him until the summer work was over, on the understanding that they should all go together for the winter months, he providing transport, equipment and rations. Accordingly they took up a claim together and had more than the average run of luck. But seeing that more was to be made by providing for the needs of the miners, he commenced carrying farm produce and stores to the fields, making one trip with a bullock dray each way per week to Gabriel's by way of Maungatua and Waipori. For the first few trips he got as much as £100 per ton freight. Reid made his first appearance in public life in 1858 as a warden for the Taieri hundred. Five years later he was elected to the Provincial Council for the Taieri. He was not a fluent speaker, but improved greatly with experience, and in later years he could make a telling speech on the platform and was a formidable debater. He represented Taieri throughout the provincial period, being four times elected, and at the end he was a stalwart defender of the provincial system in Parliament. His convictions on the land question dictated his political actions. He strongly advocated liberalising the regulations so as to make it easy for good men of moderate means to get land, and he was one of the earliest advocates of the deferred-payment system. In 1866 he assisted to pass new regulations through the Council, and in that year he was elected to represent Taieri in Parliament. Here again he furthered his views by every means in his power, taking a leading part in his first year in the passing of the land act. In 1868 he became provincial secretary and treasurer for the first time; only for two days on this occasion, but he came back to office in May 1869 and (except for 1872-74) remained in office until the abolition.

In 1869 Reid resigned his seat in Parliament, but he was again elected in 1871, and continued as member for Taieri until Jun 1878, when he resigned for good. He was throughout a strong supporter of Stafford, and was for a few weeks in 1872 his Minister of Public Works. In 1871 Reid contested the superintendency of Otago against Macandrew, mainly on the land question. In certain districts he gained a majority, but the town vote defeated him: Macandrew 3,242, Reid 2,950. This was his only defeat in politics. In 1871 he carried amended land regulations in the Council, providing for the sale of land on deferred payment, and next year he carried a land act through Parliament. In the beginning of 1877, having fought centralism to the last ditch, Reid found himself Minister of Lands and Immigration in the reconstructed Atkinson cabinet.

There he introduced the first general land act for the colony, which consolidated the provincial regulations and extended deferred payments to Southland and Canterbury. The Government was defeated in Oct but the Grey Ministry adopted the bill, which was fathered by Stout and Macandrew, and duly became law.

Though still comparatively a young man, Reid now felt that he had made a worthy contribution to politics and should pay more attention to his own affairs in the interests of his family. He retired from Parliament in 1878 and commenced a stock and station business in Vogel street, which flourished under his careful administration. He remained at its head until 1918. In 1912 he sold his farm at the Taieri and bought a place near Abbotsford, where he lived for the rest of his days. He took a deep interest in the Otago harbour board (of which he was one of the first members), and strongly advocated the deepening of the channel to the upper harbour. In later years he took an interest in the Otago Early Settlers Association, of which he was president.

Reid married first (1854) Frances (d. 1868), daughter of John Barr (Mavis Bank). In 1873 he married Sarah Gordon, widow of the Rev E. H. Price, of New South Wales, and at that time teaching on the staff of the Girls High School. Reid died on 7 Feb 1919. (See DONALD REID 1855-1920.)

Family information from Miss E. N. Reid; Otago P.C. Proc.; N.Z.P.D., 29 Aug, 2 Sep 1919; Cycl. N.Z., iv (p); Otago Daily Times, 24 Nov 1875, 8 Feb 1919, 1 Aug 1930 (p).

Reference: Volume 2, page 112

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