Champion of the Far North

Millie Srhoj spent around 48 years in elected office. Photo / NZ Herald

Miljenko Vladimir Srhoj, MBE, QSM, politician, farmer, Died aged 88.

In 1992 when Millie Srhoj was in his 39th year in local politics in the far north of the country, he declared himself angry at the latest delay in replacing Kaitaia's inadequate and "deplorable" police station.

It was to have been replaced in the 1980s, but wasn't.

Then $2 million was set aside in 1992 but the money got diverted to Papakura. And the Kaitaia police got an old shipping container in which to store their records.

"It's the same old story," said the then mayor of the Far North District. "The further north you come the less you get from the Government and this situation is a classic example."

It was an unusual admission from a man possessed of a positive attitude and a determination to do his best for the area he lived and worked in all his life. Also a man who successfully led a couple of campaigns to avoid unwelcome events that could have had very negative results for the small Far North community.

The first was about convincing the new Japanese owners of the Aupouri Forest to take over Kaitaia's Triboard Mill which the receivers of Northern Pulp Ltd proposed to wind down.

At the time the closure was being quoted as a final proof of the region's decline, making 90 mill workers redundant and affecting 200 other jobs in the area.

The debilitating effect of the region's jobs problem could be viewed every Thursday, when Main St Kaitaia was dominated by a snaking queue of people waiting to cash dole cheques. Srhoj found that "not a nice sight at all".

Fortunately a Japanese consortium stepped in.

In 1995, in the twilight of his career, Kaitaia won a reprieve for 24-hour surgical services at its hospital. Millie Srhoj was chairman of the Kaitaia Hospital Action Group. A crowd of up to 6000 marched through the town in a show of solidarity, explained not least by the fact that Northland's main hospital is over 150km to the south in Whangarei.

A dairy farmer, Srhoj was first elected to the old Mangonui County Council in 1953 and was its chairman for 21 years.

In all he is estimated to have spent 48 years in elected office and served on numerous other community bodies.

His father, Mate, came from Croatia with others and early last century ended up gum digging and trading in the Waiharara area, north of Awanui, the family later farming there.

Millie Srhoj was always a keen Labour Party man, although a couple of attempts to enter national politics won small support.

One of his campaign openings in Kaikohe in 1966 was reportedly attended by five people, including the Kaikohe mayor and three press representatives.

But Labour MP Shane Jones, who says Srhoj nominated him for Parliament, hinted this week at why his mentor won local approval for so many years: "He quite simply fought tooth and nail for the Far North community, which he went on to lead in a way which brought people together ... totally a community leader. He never polarised, he always knew when it was time to settle differences and move on."

Others have described Srhoj as "a straight shooter, incapable of deception". Naturally not all his ambitions were realised. He was keen on tourism, for example, because it meant jobs. But it was hard work.

Also the Kaitaia dairy factory, an important local employment source, was lost through dairy co-operative amalgamations.

And his ambition to have the main trunk railway line completed from Okaihau, near Kaikohe, up to Kaitaia never looked likely. His later idea of moving Aupouri forest timber and products by rail was perhaps his most reasonable, but ignored, argument.

Politically he went with the local body amalgamations of 1989. But he clearly thought the Far North a special place which could best govern itself. Others in the area retain similar views.

He is survived by his wife, Mary, whom he married in 1946, and family.