Page:The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.djvu/319

 Australia when three years old. He is the senior partner in the firm of A. M‘Lean & Co., stock and station agents in Melbourne and Gippsland. Up to 1880 he resided in Gippsland, and in that year was returned to the Assembly for the electorate of North Gippsland, and still sits for the reconstructed constituency. Whilst President of the Maffra Shire Council he took a leading part in establishing the Municipal Association of Victoria. In Nov. 1890 Mr. M‘Lean accepted the post of Minister of Lands in Mr. 's Government, and was sworn of the Executive Council. On the death of Mr. he took the additional office of Chief Secretary, and when the Ministry was reconstituted under Mr. he retained both posts.

M‘Lean, Sir Donald, K.C.M.G., fourth son of the late John M‘Lean, of Kilmonaig, Tiree, Argyllshire, and Margaret, daughter of the Rev. D. McColl, was born on Oct. 27th, 1820. At the age of seventeen he emigrated to Sydney, and entered the office of a merchant there. Going to New Zealand, two years later, he was appointed clerk and interpreter in the office of the Chief Protector of the Aborigines, and soon gained a thorough acquaintance with Maori affairs. He became Protector of the Aborigines in Taranaki, and as such came into relation with the chief Te Heu Heu; in 1850 he was made resident magistrate for a native district. In 1847 he was instructed by the Governor (Sir ) to secure the land at Waitara, which Commissioner had decided was the property of the Government (an account of which will be found in the biography of Sir George Grey). After a varied experience as Chief Commissioner of Land Purchases, Mr. M‘Lean was made Native Secretary in 1856, as a permanent officer under the control of the Governor. This dual arrangement, by which there was a Native Secretary outside the responsible ministry, led to much confusion, but Mr. M‘Lean agreed that the Governor should retain the control of native affairs. In 1866 he was charged by Mr., then premier, with the task of reducing to order the hostile natives on the east coast. On June 28th, 1869, the Government went out of office, and Mr. formed a ministry in which Mr. M‘Lean was Native Minister and Minister for Colonial Defence. He held these positions till Sept. 10th, 1872, when the Government was defeated. Shortly after entering upon office he succeeded in making peace in the Waikato with the king party. At this time the colony was troubled by the outlaw, and Mr. M‘Lean hit upon the idea of handing the chase over to the friendly Maoris, under Major ; and subsequently adhered to a stedfast policy of peace, arranging for the return of Te Rangitake, one of the figures in the Waitara trouble, to Taranaki. So successful was he, and so trusted by the Maoris, that, upon the resignation of the Fox Ministry, in 1872, Mr. Stafford, in forming a Cabinet, offered to take over Mr. M‘Lean as Native Minister. The Stafford Government had but a brief life, and on Oct. 11th, 1872, Mr. M‘Lean became again Native Minister under Mr. . While in power he carried through the House a valuable Land Bill, which gave satisfaction to Maoris and colonists alike; and also a Native Reserves Bill. Mr. M‘Lean continued in office through successive reconstructions of the Ministry from Oct. 1872 to Dec. 1876, when he resigned from ill-health. He died in Jan. 1877, and after his death his honourable policy was continued. He was the first Superintendent of the Province of Hawkes Bay, and was created K.C.M.G. in 1874.

M‘Lean, Hon. George, M.L.C. New Zealand, son of James M‘Lean and Jane (Procter) his wife, was born at Elgin, Scotland, on Sept. 10th, 1834. Having emigrated to Melbourne, Vict., in 1851, where he was connected with the Oriental Bank Corporation, he went to Otago, N.Z., in 1862, as manager of the Dunedin branch of the Bank of New Zealand, and was Provincial Treasurer in 1869. Mr. M‘Lean, who went largely into commercial pursuits, represented Waikonaiti in the New Zealand House of Representatives for a period of ten years, and was nominated to the Legislative Council in 1881. He was a member of the Ministry from July to Sept. 1876, as Commissioner of Customs; and when the Ministry was reconstructed, after the departure of Sir Julius Vogel to England, under Major, Mr. M‘Lean was Postmaster-General from Sept. 1876 to Oct. 1877. Mr. M‘Lean 303