Sir Charles Manley Luke

Mr. Charles Manley Luke, who succeeded to the Mayoralty of Wellington City in December, 1894 was born in Penzance, Cornwall, but has resided in New Zealand for upwards of twenty-one years. He received his education at the Wesleyan Day School in his native town, and finally at the Penzance Grammar School. At his last examination at the Grammar School he was awarded first prize for arithmetic, and stood well ir other subjects of the curriculum. Mr. Luke has always been studiously inclined, and his present position is largely due to his un wearied efforts, often “burning the midnight oil.” From his youth he was looked upon as a book worm, and his researches have been of n small order, embracing a wide range of subjects. This helped him in the acquiring of that information which has resulted in such good fruit, and which has been to his own advantage, and that of hi fellow citizens in Wellington. Mr. Luke has worked very hard in the interests of the city, and has taken an active interest in all temperance and social movements. He was a member of the Hospital Committee for four years, and is a vice-president of the Citizens' Institute Mr. Luke was elected mayor of Wellington at the end of 1894, by a substantial majority, and without having previously oceupied a sea in the City Council. He was a member of the executive of the Industrial Exhibition of 1885; and was elected president of the conference held in 1890, in connection with the Primitive Methodist Church, of which body he is a member, and in whose interest he had worked hard, his services being in constant demand for specials, now only for his own church, but for kindred societies. At the end of his term of office, Mr. Luke stood for re-election, but was defeated by Mr. George Fisher. Mr. Luke has often been urged to stand for Parliament, and it is probable that he will accede to the demand at no very distant date.

(cyclopedia of New Zealand, 1908)

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