John Crase

Photograph of Crase from 1915John Crase (1837–25 May 1919) was an ironworker and businessman in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. He was Mayor of Brisbane in 1906.

Personal life

Crase was born in 1837 in St Ives, Cornwall, and emigrated to Queensland, arriving in 1859. He had at least two daughters, Annie Eileen, who did not survive infancy and who died in 1891,

John Crase & Co. Crase was in partnership with James H Phipps, the business being known as John Crase & Co. It was located in Warren Street, Valley.

Political career

Crase first came to public attention as an outspoken opponent of federation in Queensland. A report in the Brisbane Courier from April 1899 accused Crase of "(seizing) the opportunity of making an effort to keep Queensland outside the federation," before concluding that "there need be no reason to fear the fate of the bill with such opponents as (Mr.) Crase".

He was first elected to the Brisbane City Council as an alderman for the Northern Ward in 1904. Party allegiances at the time were not strong in local politics, and for the most part aldermen were elected as non-partisan representatives. There is some evidence, however, that Crase had sympathies in line with those of the Protectionist Party, adopting as his motto "Australian Goods for Australian Men", Nonetheless, he opposed the introduction of party politics into municipal government, believing it to be unnecessary and counterproductive.

Crase was, during his time in office, widely considered to be an export on local government finance matters, and argued for numerous financial reforms in the way that government was run. In particular, he argued that it was "oppressive and unfair" for ratepayers to bear the complete cost of municipal government, given that non-property owners also benefited from municipal works, and opposed the expenditure of public money on public utilities wherever possible, referring to them as "experimental enterprises", and arguing that council had no reason to be competing with private businesses run by ratepayers.

Following his term as Mayor, Crase remained active in local government politics. He released a pamphlet entitled "Municipal Government" in 1908 that served as a political manifesto for his views on local government. He also vigorously advocated the "Greater Brisbane" doctrine, for the consolidation of the smaller municipal councils in the Brisbane region into a single, larger local government body. Crase would not live to see this happen though, dying in office in 1919.

Death Crase died on 1 June 1919.