Myers, Sir Arthur Melziner
MYERS, SIR ARTHUR MELZINER
MYERS, SIR ARTHUR MELZINER (1867–1926), New Zealand businessman and politician. Myers came from a family of German immigrants who opened a brewery in New Zealand. His father, who became a jewelry salesman, drowned in 1870 and Myers was raised by an uncle in Wellington, where he eventually became head of the family brewery. Myers became managing director of a large business concern in his native city, Auckland, and from 1905 to 1909 was mayor of Auckland. He entered the New Zealand parliament in 1910 and in 1912 became a member of the cabinet as minister of finance, defense, and railways. In the National Government from 1915 to 1919, he was minister of customs, munitions, and supplies, in which capacity he laid the foundations for compulsory military service. He retired from parliament in 1921. Myers was noted for his benefactions to the city of Auckland, including the Myers Park in which he built a kindergarten and a school for backward children. He lived in England from 1923 and was a member of the Royal Commission on Local Government. He was knighted in 1924.
add. bibliography:
R.C.J. Stone, "Sir Arthur Myers," in: The New Zealand Dictionary of Biography; A. Gluckman (ed.), Identity and Involvement: The Jewish Community in Auckland, 1840–1990 (1990).