Ted Phelan

Edward John Phelan JP (1874 – 28 March 1961) was a New Zealand trade unionist, politician and rugby league administrator.

He left school aged 14 and attained a job as a tally boy in a sawmill north of Wairoa.

[5] He declined nomination to stand for the mayoralty in 1935 citing a conflict of interest, as he was also running the Hotel Auckland for Ernest Davis, who had already declared his candidacy.

In 1938 he was unexpectedly denied re-nomination by the Labour Party alongside sitting councillors Arthur Rosser and George Gordon Grant.

[6] Phelan was approached to stand for Parliament in the 1930 Parnell by-election, but he declined the invitation to seek the Labour Party nomination.