Peter Fraser (New Zealand politician)

Peter Fraser CH PC was a New Zealand political figure who served as the 24th Prime Minister fromMarch 1940 untilDecember 1949. He assumed the office nearly seven months after the outbreak of World War II and remained as head of government for almost ten years. Considered by historians as a major figure in the history of New Zealand Labour Party, he was in office longer than any other New Zealand Labour Prime Minister and is to date the fourth longest serving Prime Minister.

A native of Scotland, Peter Fraser was born in Hill of Fearn, a small village near the town of Tain in the Highland area of Easter Ross. He received a basic education, but had to leave school due to his familys poor financial state. Though apprenticed to a carpenter, he eventually abandoned this trade due to extremely poor eyesight later in life, faced with difficulty reading official documents, he would insist on spoken reports rather than written ones. Before the deterioration of his vision, however, he read extensively with socialist activists such as Keir Hardie and Robert Blatchford among his favourites.

Source: Wikipedia