Frank Langstone

Frank Langstone (10 December 1881 – 15 June 1969) was a New Zealand Member of Parliament, Cabinet Minister and high commissioner to Canada.

Biography Early life Langstone was born in Bulls probably on 10 December 1881. He was the fourth of five children to Charles Walter Langston, a vet, Margaret McDermott, a seamstress. His father abandoned the family and not long after his mother died on 23 December 1890. His older sister Katherine took care of the family, thus financial pressures prevented him having a proper education, though he was an extensive reader. Eventually he went into foster care where he continued self educating himself before he became an apprentice blacksmith.

In around 1906 Langstone moved to Masterton where he became the proprietor of the refreshment rooms at the railway depot, and later ran a billiard saloon. On 24 April 1906 he married Agnes Clementine King, they had five sons and two daughters. Langstone and Smith contested Waimarino at the and this time, Langstone was successful.

Throughout his parliamentary career Langstone consistently advocated for the creation of a state-owned bank, development of lands for agriculture, a financial safety net for farmers. He held the electorate until 1925 when he was defeated, returning to the Taumarunui restaurant, which Agnes managed during his time in Parliament. In 1926 he was unsuccessful in seeking the Labour nomination for the Eden by-election.

He was described as "a cheerful, shortish extrovert with a better brain than most people thought he had". As he was deaf, he was allowed to listen to debates in the chamber on a small radio with headphones. When a dull back-bencher was on, he was known to tune into livelier commercial stations, when he would beat time to the music with his hands. Langstone was an impressive orator, as adept at Robert Semple and John A. Lee at engaging with the public. Despite this, his pursuit of ideas and views (particularly on financial matters) which were not shared by his more senior colleagues prevented him being appointed to more influential roles. In April 1942 Fraser appointed him New Zealand's first High Commissioner to Canada. He 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 Langstone had been recalled because of serious misconduct. Langstone sued the paper for libel and was awarded £200 in damages in February 1944.

Split from Labour In 1949 Langstone resigned from the Labour Party over the issue of peacetime conscription. Later that year he stood in the Roskill electorate as an Independent but was defeated; coming third with 1097 votes after John Rae (National, 7372 votes) and James Freeman (Labour, 5957 votes). During the 1951 New Zealand waterfront dispute he published a pamphlet opposing the heavy-handed emergency regulations imposed by the First National Government.

Later life and death Agnes died on 5 August 1946 and he remarried in Auckland on 11 January 1952 Frank to Catherine Mary "Mollie" Nolan.