Martyn Finlay

Martyn Finlay
The Honourable; Martyn Finlay; QC
	Finlay in 1968
22nd Attorney-General
	In office; 8 December 1972 – 12 December 1975
Prime Minister	Norman Kirk; Bill Rowling
Preceded by	Roy Jack
Succeeded by	Peter Wilkinson
36th Minister of Justice
	In office; 8 December 1972 – 12 December 1975
Prime Minister	Norman Kirk; Bill Rowling
Preceded by	Roy Jack
Succeeded by	David Thomson
19th President of the Labour Party
	In office; 8 June 1960 – 12 May 1964
Vice President	Jim Bateman
Preceded by	Mick Moohan
Succeeded by	Norman Kirk
Personal details
Born	1 January 1912; Dunedin, New Zealand
Died	20 January 1999 (aged 87); Auckland, New Zealand
Political party	Labour Party
Children	3
Profession	Lawyer

Allan "Martyn" Finlay QC (1 January 1912 – 20 January 1999) was a New Zealand lawyer and politician of the Labour Party.

Biography

Early life

Martyn was born in Dunedin to Baptist missionaries who had worked in India. His father died when he was two and his mother was forced by economic circumstances to take in boarders. He used to push his brother Harold, ten years older and with polio, two miles to Otago University in his wheelchair. With the oncoming depression, Martyn had to leave school to get a job at the end of fifth form - he had wanted to be a doctor. With a job as an office boy in a law firm at the age of 16, he was able to study law part-time at Otago University for eight years before getting his LLM with First Class Honours.[1]

He got a scholarship to the London School of Economics and got a PhD in 1938 before becoming a Resident Fellow at Harvard. He returned to NZ in 1939 and was employed as a private secretary to Cabinet Ministers Rex Mason and Arnold Nordmeyer.[2]

Political career

New Zealand Parliament
Years	Term	Electorate	Party
1946–1949	28th	North Shore	Labour

1963–1966	34th	Waitakere	Labour
1966–1969	35th	Waitakere	Labour
1969–1972	36th	Henderson	Labour
1972–1975	37th	Henderson	Labour
1975–1978	38th	Henderson	Labour

Martyn Finlay stood unsuccessfully for Remuera in 1943. He then represented the North Shore electorate from 1946 to 1949, when he was defeated. Finlay frequently challenged Prime Minister Peter Fraser in caucus over issues such as compulsory military training, earning him the ire of the party establishment. After his defeat neither Fraser nor his successor as leader Walter Nash gave Finlay any assistance in returning to parliament because of his rebelliousness.[3] Years later Finlay frequently described himself and fellow Labour MP Warren Freer as the "only remnants" of the first Labour government, a government of whose record he was proud of stating "It was a government of very practical talents. If they saw people hungry, they knew hunger came from malnutrition and that malnutrition came from lack of money, in turn due to lack of a job. They knew nothing of such concepts as level playing fields. And they did not have the help of economists."[4]

Between his spells in parliament he was Vice-President of the Labour Party from 1955 to 1960 and subsequently President from 1960 to 1964.[5]

Later he represented the Waitakere electorate from 1963 to 1969, then the Henderson electorate from 1969 to 1978, when he retired.[6]

Vietnam War

Martyn Finlay was also one of the Labour Party's most active opponents of New Zealand's military involvement in the Vietnam War and questioned the New Zealand government's support for South Vietnam. In 1964, he argued during a parliamentary speech that the Viet Cong were the only effective opposition in South Vietnam, but still accepted the general consensus within New Zealand government circles that the Viet Cong were being supported by North Vietnam and the People's Republic of China.[7] On 6 June 1965, Finlay chaired an anti-war meeting in Auckland which was sponsored by the Auckland Trades Council, the Auckland Labour Representation Committee, and the Auckland Peace For Vietnam Committee (PFVC). A prominent speaker at that meeting was the trade unionist Jim Knox.[8] He also participated in a teach-in at the University of Auckland on 12 September 1966, which drew about 600 people.[9]

During a Labour Party conference in 1966, Martyn Finlay, at the instigation of the Labour Party leader and future Prime Minister Norman Kirk, proposed an amendment which advocated replacing New Zealand's artillery battery with a non-combatant force.[10] Despite his opposition to the Vietnam War, Finlay argued that New Zealand troops should not be withdrawn from Vietnam too quickly to avoid interfering with the Paris peace talks in 1969.[11] Later, he lost a notable 1969 election TV debate (on the NZBC's Gallery programme) against Robert Muldoon. When the United States Vice President Spiro Agnew visited the capital Wellington in mid-January 1970, Finlay along with several other Labour Members of Parliament including Arthur Faulkner, Jonathan Hunt, and Bob Tizard boycotted the state dinner to protest American policy in Vietnam. However, other Labour MPs including the Opposition Leader Norman Kirk attended the function which dealt with the Nixon Doctrine.[12]

Cabinet Minister

Finlay (centre) at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, 1973.

Finlay was a Cabinet Minister, and was the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice from 1972 to 1975 and Minister of Civil Aviation and Meteorological Services from 1973 to 1975 in the Third Labour Government.[13][14] 11 years later he publicly recalled frustrations felt by the government in trying to put changes in policy into practice immediately following the election which, in Finlay's view, stemmed from a lack of positive cooperation from senior public servants who were biased to the National Party.[15] Finlay established the small claims court where "people owed $10 can be heard without having to pay a lawyer $30" and also established duty solicitors to look after the interests of poor people charged in court.[4]

He set up the Disputes Tribunal and was responsible for much of the work leading to the Matrimonial Property Act which would give divorced wives a right to share in their husband's possessions.[5] He also ended bread-and-water punishments in prisons and bestowed prisoners the right to write directly to the Minister of Justice without having their correspondence read prior by prison staff. Finlay also abolished a husband's right to sue his wife's lover for damages removing one of the last legal stipulations of a wife being deemed her husband's property.[4]

In 1973 he was a member of the legal team that represented the New Zealand and Australian government at the International Court of Justice in an attempt to ban French nuclear tests in the Pacific.[16] Finlay attracted world-wide attention with his performance leading the New Zealand team at the World Court in the joint New Zealand-Australia case seeking a ban on French nuclear testing at Mururoa Atoll. He said later "Ours was a much better case than the Australians and better received by the court," and eventually the court ruled it would be unlawful for France to continue atmospheric testing.[4]

He was made a Queen's Counsel (QC) in 1973.[17] He was the recipient of a harsh verbal attack from then prime minister Robert Muldoon in 1977. Muldoon said he despised Finlay, and the sooner the retiring MP was out of the house the better. However, in a rare move, Muldoon later apologised publicly for the outburst, stating that he had misunderstood the situation.[15]

Later life

In 1983 his daughter Sarah Jane was sentenced to nine months' imprisonment on charges of supplying and possessing heroin. In 1989 she was found dead in her Wellington flat.[15]

Finlay often weighed in on political issues after his exit from parliament. He was particularly critical of the economic restructuring (known as Rogernomics) by the Fourth Labour Government in the 1980s.[15]

Death

Martyn died at the age of 87. Christine Cole Catley says: "He wrote two most moving letters to his wife, a year apart. She read them for the first time after he died ... He wrote of what he saw as his degeneration and his fear of becoming a burden on her and others. ... Two days later he ended his life."[18]

He was survived by his wife, son and daughter.[15]

Personal views

Finlay's socially liberal views were said to have put him ahead of his time, especially on moral issues such as legalizing homosexuality and granting name suppression in court unless people were convicted.[15] He was also an advocate for abortion during the 1970s, but did not find widespread support, but won favour from younger generations.[5]

Parliamentary colleague Michael Bassett has said Finlay was "essentially a man of peace throughout his life" who "found Peter Fraser’s crusade to introduce Compulsory Military Training personally distasteful."[19] Bassett also said: "To his dying day Finlay was an opponent of capital punishment, a cause to which he added divorce law reform (his own divorce in the 1950s was particularly fraught), homosexual, and abortion law reform. Finlay’s reputation as an advanced liberal on social issues attracted the support of younger party idealists as much as it repelled Labour's more conservative wing, especially Catholics. Finlay’s marital complications irked the puritanical Walter Nash, who did nothing to advance his return to Parliament, and seems not to have welcomed his election as party president in 1960."[19]

Notes

Holman & Cole Catley 2004, p. 196.
"Martyn Finlay QC, 1912 - 1999". New Zealand Law Society. Retrieved 18 July 2020.
Hobbs 1967, pp. 108.
Potter, Tony (24 January 1999). "Finlay's was a rare voice of reason and justice". Sunday Star-Times. p. A9.
"Labour intellectual who had ideas ahead of his time dies". The Press. 22 January 1999. p. 8.
Wilson 1985, p. 196.
Rabel 2005, p. 76-78.
Rabel 2005, p. 120.
Rabel 2005, p. 162.
Rabel 2005, p. 180.
Rabel 2005, p. 287.
Rabel 2005, pp. 299–300.
"Obituary—Hon. Dr Allan Martyn Finlay QC". New Zealand Hansard. VDIG.net. 16 February 1999. Retrieved 29 August 2013.
Wilson 1985, pp. 92–93.
"Labour intellect Finlay dies". The Dominion. 22 January 1999. p. 2.
Alley, Rod (20 June 2012). "Multilateral organisations - Rule-making: maritime, environmental and criminal". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 18 April 2020.
"Queen's Counsel appointments since 1907 as at July 2013" (PDF). Crown Law Office. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 March 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2013.
Holman & Cole Catley 2004, p. 204.
Bassett, Michael. "Hon Dr Allen Martyn Finlay (1912-1999)". Dr Michael Bassett. Archived from the original on 22 January 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2020.

gollark: It's not that you became unconscious, it's that you injured your brain somewhat and that caused you to become unconscious.

gollark: ... head trauma is actually pretty bad for you, though?

gollark: Phones seem to continually be growing in size for no apparent reason and as someone with small hands it's quite annoying.

gollark: That sounds very finger-soreness-inducing.

gollark: Meh.

References

Hobbs, Leslie (1967). The Thirty-Year Wonders. Christchurch: Whitcombe and Tombs.
Holman, Dinah; Cole Catley, Christine, eds. (2004). Fairburn and Friends. North Shore City: Cape Catley Ltd.
Rabel, Roberto (2005). New Zealand and the Vietnam War: Politics and Diplomacy. Auckland: Auckland University Press. ISBN 1-86940-340-1.
Wilson, James Oakley (1985) [First ed. published 1913]. New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1984 (4th ed.). Wellington: V.R. Ward, Govt. Printer. OCLC 154283103.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)

Political offices
Preceded by Roy Jack	Minister of Justice 1972–1975	Succeeded by David Thomson
Preceded by Roy Jack	Attorney-General of New Zealand 1972–1975	Succeeded by Peter Wilkinson
New Zealand Parliament
New constituency	Member of Parliament for North Shore 1946–1949	Succeeded by Dean Eyre
Preceded by Rex Mason	Member of Parliament for Waitakere 1963–1969	Vacant Constituency abolished, recreated in 1978 Title next held by Ralph Maxwell
New constituency	Member of Parliament for Henderson 1969–1978	Vacant Constituency abolished, recreated in 1993 Title next held by Jack Elder
Party political offices
Preceded by Mick Moohan	President of the Labour Party 1960–1964	Succeeded by Norman Kirk

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.

[FOOTNOTEHolmanCole_Catley2004196-1] Holman & Cole Catley 2004, p. 196.

[Law_Society-2] "Martyn Finlay QC, 1912 - 1999". New Zealand Law Society. Retrieved 18 July 2020.

[FOOTNOTEHobbs1967108-3] Hobbs 1967, pp. 108.

[Star-4] Potter, Tony (24 January 1999). "Finlay's was a rare voice of reason and justice". Sunday Star-Times. p. A9.

[Press-5] "Labour intellectual who had ideas ahead of his time dies". The Press. 22 January 1999. p. 8.

[FOOTNOTEWilson1985196-6] Wilson 1985, p. 196.

[FOOTNOTERabel200576-78-7] Rabel 2005, p. 76-78.

[FOOTNOTERabel2005120-8] Rabel 2005, p. 120.

[FOOTNOTERabel2005162-9] Rabel 2005, p. 162.

[FOOTNOTERabel2005180-10] Rabel 2005, p. 180.

[FOOTNOTERabel2005287-11] Rabel 2005, p. 287.

[FOOTNOTERabel2005299–300-12] Rabel 2005, pp. 299–300.

[13] "Obituary—Hon. Dr Allan Martyn Finlay QC". New Zealand Hansard. VDIG.net. 16 February 1999. Retrieved 29 August 2013.

[FOOTNOTEWilson198592–93-14] Wilson 1985, pp. 92–93.

[Dominion-15] "Labour intellect Finlay dies". The Dominion. 22 January 1999. p. 2.

[16] Alley, Rod (20 June 2012). "Multilateral organisations - Rule-making: maritime, environmental and criminal". Te Ara: The Encyclopedia of New Zealand. Retrieved 18 April 2020.

[17] "Queen's Counsel appointments since 1907 as at July 2013" (PDF). Crown Law Office. Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 March 2014. Retrieved 4 September 2013.

[FOOTNOTEHolmanCole_Catley2004204-18] Holman & Cole Catley 2004, p. 204.

[Bassett-19] Bassett, Michael. "Hon Dr Allen Martyn Finlay (1912-1999)". Dr Michael Bassett. Archived from the original on 22 January 2016. Retrieved 17 July 2020.