to seek the party's leadership, but others within the party believed that both Coates and Forbes remained too closely associated with the country's economic problems, and that the new party needed fresh faces. Forbes supported Charles Wilkinson for the leadership, but Coates and his supporters rejected this choice, going so far as to threaten a re-establishment of the Reform Party if it went through. Eventually, Adam Hamilton, a former Reform member, won the leadership ballot by one vote. With the outbreak of World War II, the Labour government invited both Coates and Hamilton to join a special War Cabinet, which would be responsible for matters related to the war's prosecution. Their acceptance created a rift between them and their National colleagues — the party replaced Hamilton as leader over the issue, and relations between Coates and the new leader, Sidney Holland, deteriorated. Coates strongly believed partisanship misplaced during the war, and attempted to convince both Labour and National to work together. He expressed pleasure when the two parties established a joint War Administration, with the War Cabinet serving as its executive body. The War Administration quickly collapsed, with National choosing to resign. Coates and Hamilton openly criticised this decision, and the day after their resignation became effective, they rejoined the War Cabinet on the invitation of the Prime Minister, Peter Fraser. Coates thus became an Independent, and he decided that he would contest the next election as an independent National candidate, not as the National Party's officially-nominated candidate. Death Coates' health, however, had begun to fail. He had smoked heavily for most of his life, and had also developed heart trouble. On 27 May 1943 he collapsed and died in his office in Wellington. The Labour Party eulogised him more strongly than did his National Party colleagues, although politicians from all sides of the House paid tribute to him. Legacy Coates' style lived on through his mentee Keith Holyoake, later Prime Minister himself (1957; 1960–72), who saw Coates as his political role model. Both held each other in mutual admiration and respect and held shared views on opposition to socialism and state control while supporting individual freedom and private enterprise. Coatesville a small town in Auckland north of Albany was called Fernielea until 1926, when it was renamed after Coates. Notes References Further reading (this volume contains a chapter on Coates) External links The Prime Minister's message (1926) |- |-