Coates, Gordon

Born on the Hookater Peninsula in Kaipara Bay, New Zealand, where his parents kept a farm. From an early age, Coates had to take care of his family because his father suffered from bipolar disorder . He received primary education at a local school, and his mother was well educated and gave him a home education. Coates became an excellent rider, although as a result of an accident his leg was damaged until the end of his life. As many Māori lived in the area, he mastered their language well. Rumor had it that before his marriage, he had two children from a Maori woman. He allegedly was engaged to teacher Eva Ingol, but her father did not agree to their marriage on the grounds that his father’s illness could be hereditary. In the end, in 1914, Coates married Mergory Grace Coles, from whom he had five daughters.

Coates began politics in 1905, having been elected to the Otamatea County Council. In 1913 - 1916 he was chairman of this council. Prior to that, he had a good reputation as commander of the Otamatei Mountain Volunteer Infantry Regiment. In the 1911 election , he was elected to parliament from the Kaipar District as an independent candidate who joined the Liberal Party . In Parliament, Coates mainly supported the liberals and joined a group of deputies who supported the extension of the powers of Prime Minister Joseph Ward . When Ward was succeeded by Thomas Mackenzie , Coates refused the proposed ministerial post.

However, Coates gradually moved away from the Liberal Party, primarily because of disagreements on the issue of full land ownership for farmers, which the liberals opposed. Coates has strengthened his own opinion due to the negative experience with renting a farm for his family. During a vote of confidence in the government in 1912, he voted against the liberals, contributing to the coming to power of the opposition Reform Party . In 1914, Coates formally joined the Reform Party. However, he did not become a fanatical supporter of one idea and had friends of different political views. His political activity, first of all, was aimed at improving the situation in the northern regions of New Zealand.

With the outbreak of World War I, Coates filed a statement with the army, but Prime Minister William Massey dissuaded him from doing so, since most reformists were already fragile. Nevertheless, in November 1916, Coates received permission to go to the front. He served with distinction and was awarded the Military Cross. After returning home, many looked at him as a hero, and on September 2, 1919, Massey appointed him a cabinet member, securing him the posts of Minister of Justice, Minister of Communications and Minister of Telegraph. He later became Minister of Public Works and Minister of Railways. From March 1921, Coates became Minister for Natives, where his knowledge of the Maori language was very useful. He made friends with Apiran Ngat and collaborated with him to meet the needs of the Maori.

Coates' fame gradually became such that people saw in him the natural successor to Massey. After Massey's death on May 10, 1925, Francis Bell became the interim head of government while the party elected its leader. Coates became Prime Minister on May 30 , winning a party election over William Nosworthy.

Coates' leadership at the head of the government was marked by an intention to develop the agrarian economy of New Zealand, from which he emerged himself. He dedicated several projects to this goal, including the construction of the Copu Bridge on the Coromandel Peninsula, which facilitated communication with local farmers.

Although Coates possessed charisma and the skills of a good manager, he lacked the ability to present himself and public speaking. He retained much of Massey’s office, although the public wanted new faces. His pragmatic and non-politicized approach to solving problems caused the discontent of some of his supporters who advocated a more conservative course. Some believed that he couldn’t imagine the “full picture” of what was happening in the country, and he was too focused on individual projects. In the 1925 elections , reformists won a landslide victory, but this was more due to Albert Davy's organizational work and the chaos among liberals.

But the Great Depression loomed on the horizon, and the state of New Zealand's economy began to deteriorate. Coates and reformists were criticized. Some critics called individual measures to overcome the crisis “ socialist, ” and Albert Davy quit the party to create his own United Party as an updated version of the liberal. In the 1928 election , the Reform and the United Party won the same number of seats in parliament. With the support of the Labor Party, the United Party formed a government, and Coates resigned.

In 1931, the Labor Party stopped supporting the United Party, protesting against various economic measures of the government, which they considered negative for the workers. After that, Coates and the reformists agreed to join the coalition with the United Party to prevent Labor from winning the upcoming elections. The leader of the United Party, George Forbes , remained Prime Minister, but Coates and his colleagues in the Reform Party received a number of influential posts. Coates sibling William Downey Stewart became Minister of Finance.

Following the results of the 1931 elections , the Reform and United Party coalition retained power, although the Labor Party increased its representation. However, economic problems persisted, and unemployment grew. Coates and Stuart had a conflict over government responsibility, and Coates himself became Minister of Finance. Prime Minister George Forbes became increasingly lethargic and frustrated, while Coates became increasingly engaged in government affairs. There were also persistent rumors about Coates himself’s emotional state, that his hand trembling was caused by excessive alcohol consumption.

In the 1935 election , the coalition was defeated, gaining only 19 seats: Coates barely retained his seat in parliament. The Labor Party, with 53 seats, formed the first Labor government, led by Michael Joseph Savage .

After the defeat of the coalition government, Coates basically moved away from public activities. For some time he experienced financial difficulties caused by an unexpected drop in income, but the situation improved when a group of friends gave him a large amount of money in gratitude for his long service.

After the merger of the United and Reform Party into the National Party in May 1936, Coates became a deputy from it in parliament. Some of his supporters urged him to run for the party’s leadership, but others believed that Coates and Forbes are too strongly associated with the country's economic problems and the new party needs fresh faces. Forbes nominated Charles Wilkinson as leader, but Coates and his supporters rejected this candidacy, having reached the point that they threatened to quit the party and revive the Reform Party if Wilkinson became the leader. In the end, the former reformist Adam Hamilton won by one vote.

With the outbreak of World War II, the Labor government invited Coates and Hamilton to enter a special military cabinet. Their agreement caused a conflict with colleagues in the National Party - because of this, Hamilton was removed from the post of party leader, and Coates’s relationship with the new party leader Sydney Holland deteriorated. Coates was firmly convinced that there was no place for political disagreements during the war, and tried to convince Labor and nationalists to work together. He was satisfied when both parties created the united Military Administration, in which the Military Cabinet served as the executive body. The military administration quickly collapsed due to the decision of the nationalists to leave it. Coates publicly condemned the decision of the National Party and remained in the Military Cabinet. At this time, Coates decided to run for the next election as an independent candidate, and not as a candidate for the National Party.

However, his health was deteriorating. Coates smoked a lot throughout his life, and he also had heart problems. On May 27, 1943, he died at his office in Wellington . Labor expressed more praise to him than members of the same party, although politicians from all parties paid tribute to him.