Thomas Lindsay Buick

Thomas Lindsay Buick (13 May 1865 – 22 February 1938) was a labour-friendly Liberal Member of Parliament for the Wairau electorate, New Zealand, a journalist and a historian. He published under the name T. Lindsay Buick. He wrote a book about the Treaty of Waitangi, which was the only substantial work about the treaty published prior to the 1980s.

Early life

Born in Oamaru on 13 May 1865, Buick was the son of Margaret (née Petrie) and John Walter Buick. His parents had emigrated from England to Port Chalmers in 1860. Buick received his education at schools in Oamaru and moved to Blenheim in 1884 to work as a carpenter. Although he had no relation to Ireland or Catholicism, he joined the Irish National League "purely as a lover of liberty and justice", and in 1889 he embarked on a speaker tour. He was also active in the temperance movement.

Buick married Mary Fitzgerald on 8 January 1891 at Blenheim; they were to have no children.

Member of Parliament

Buick represented the Wairau electorate in the New Zealand House of Representatives from 1890 to 1896, when he was defeated. He had a working-class background and won the seat with labour support.

In late-1891 he was appointed the organising secretary of the newly created Liberal Federation, the organisational body governing the Liberal Party, after Thomas Bracken declined the position. Party leader John Ballance thought Buick a "bright, up and coming young man" and gave his endorsement to Buick as well as a salary for this position, funded by a mixture of donations and annual subscriptions. Buick began a tour to organise local Liberal Party committees. Many Liberal associations had been formed already in the lead up to the 1890 election and Buick's principle task was to bring them under centralised control. His secondary task was setting up new branches in areas without one. He first visited Dannevirke, then Napier to sure up branches there before travelling north to Auckland. The Auckland Liberal Association was not as healthy as supposed. Buick spent most of his time convincing Auckland liberals that Ballance was the leader of liberalism in New Zealand, rather than former Premier Sir George Grey. He travelled south to New Plymouth then further south to Wellington. A new Taranaki Liberal Association was formed along the way. In Wellington, local supporters had been able to form an association without his assistance In the South Island he did not visit anywhere other than Christchurch and Dunedin. Associations already existed there, but their overall organisation was weak. Membership numbers grew only slightly which disappointed Ballance and Buick was unable to find any large individual donors.