Dr Robert McNab was a New Zealand

New Zealand

New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...

 lawyer, farmer, historian, and politician of the Liberal Party

New Zealand Liberal Party

The New Zealand Liberal Party is generally regarded as having been the first real political party in New Zealand. It governed from 1891 until 1912. Out of office, the Liberals gradually found themselves pressed between the conservative Reform Party and the growing Labour Party...

.

He represented the Mataura

Mataura (New Zealand electorate)

Mataura was a parliamentary electorate in the Southland Region of New Zealand, from 1866 to 1946.-History:Mataura was first established for the 1866 general election...

 electorate from 1893 to 1896 when he was defeated by George Richardson

George Richardson (New Zealand)

George Frederick Richardson , sometimes published as George Francis Richardson, was a 19th century Member of Parliament in Otago, New Zealand and a cabinet minister from 8 October 1887 to 24 January 1891 in the 4th Atkinson Ministry.Richardson was born in Cheltenham, England, and came to New...

. In 1898 Richardson was adjudged bankrupt. McNab won the subsequent by-election

By-election

A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....

, and held the seat again to 1908 when he was again defeated, by George James Anderson

George James Anderson

George James Anderson was a Reform Party Member of Parliament, and a minister in the Reform Government from 1912 to 1928.He won the Mataura electorate in Southland in the 1908 general election, defeating a government minister Robert McNab on his entry into politics...

. In 1914 he won the Hawkes Bay

Hawkes Bay (New Zealand electorate)

Hawkes Bay was a parliamentary electorate in the Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand from 1881 to 1996.The electorate was represented by twelve Members of Parliament:-Election results:Key...

 seat, which he held until he died in 1917.

He was a Cabinet Minister, and held the Ministry of Justice

Minister of Justice (New Zealand)

The Minister of Justice is a minister in the government of New Zealand. The minister has responsibility for the formulation of justice policy and for the administration of law courts....

 portfolio from 1915 to 1917 in the Reform Government

Reform Government of New Zealand

The Reform Government of New Zealand was the government of New Zealand from 1912 to 1928. It is perhaps best remembered for its anti-trade union stance in the Waihi miners' strike of 1912 and a dockworkers' strike the following year...

 when Reform was in a temporary wartime coalition with the Liberals.

McNab began researching New Zealand history in the late 1890s, and published numerous articles and books including the Historical Records of New Zealand at the request of the government. In 1913 McNab donated his collection of 4,200 books on history and geography to the Dunedin Public Library, with the condition the collection be added to continually. , the McNab New Zealand Collection contains around 83,000 items.