James Edward Fenton (1864-1950) was an Australian politician. He was first elected as a Labor member of the House of Representatives for the Division of Maribyrnong in Victoria in 1910, and would hold the seat until 1934. When James Scullin led the Labor Party to victory at the general election of 1929, Fenton became Minister for Trade and Customs in the Labor Government. However, the government soon was divided over the appropriate means to combat the Great Depression. Fenton became a supporter of the conservative, deflationary economic policies championed inside the Cabinet by his fellow minister Joseph Lyons, while other ministers supported more radical inflationary policies. While Scullin was overseas in Britain from August 1930 to January 1931, attending the Imperial Conference and seeking to raise a low interest loan for Australia, Fenton served as Acting Prime Minister, and Lyons as Acting Treasurer. Lyons, with Fenton's support, pursued conservative economic policies that caused great anger among many in the Labor Caucus. 1864 was a leap year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... 1950 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Australian House of Representatives chamber Entrance to the House of Representatives The Australian House of Representatives is one of the two houses (chambers) of the Parliament of Australia. ... The Division of Maribyrnong is an Australian Electoral Division in the state of Victoria. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ... 1910 (MCMX) was a common year starting on Saturday (see link for calendar). ... 1934 (MCMXXXIV) was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Rt Hon James Scullin James Henry Scullin (September 18, 1876 - January 28, 1953), Australian politician and ninth Prime Minister of Australia, was born in the small town of Trawalla, in western Victoria, the son of a railway worker of Irish descent. ... 1929 (MCMXXIX) was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Great Depression was a massive global economic recession (or depression) that ran from 1929 to approximately 1939. ... Rt Hon Joseph Lyons Joseph Aloysius Lyons (September 15, 1879 - April 7, 1939), Australian politician and tenth Prime Minister of Australia, was born in Stanley, Tasmania, the son of Irish immigrants. ... 1930 (MCMXXX) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... 1931 (MCMXXXI) is a common year starting on Thursday. ... Imperial Conferences were gatherings of British Empire government leaders in London in 1887, 1897, 1902, 1907, 1911, 1921, 1923, 1926, 1930 and 1937. ...

When Scullin returned to Australia in January 1931, he reappointed Ted Theodore, the major proponent of inflationary economic policies, as Treasurer. In response, Lyons and Fenton both immediately resigned from Cabinet. In March, with three other Labor MPs, they resigned from the Labor Party and crossed the floor to sit with the conservative Nationalist Party opposition. Soon the two groups merged to form the United Australia Party (UAP), with Lyons as its leader. At the general election in December 1931, the UAP won government in a landslide, and Fenton won his seat of Maribyrnong as a UAP candidate. Hon Ted Theodore Edward Granville Theodore (29 December 1884 - 28 February 1950), Australian politician, was born in Adelaide, South Australia, the second son of a Romanian immigrant called Basil Teodorescu. ... In many governments, a treasurer is the person responsible for running the treasury. ... The Nationalist Party of Australia was an Australian political party formed in 1917 from a merger of pro-conscription members of the Labor Party (who had been operating under the banner National Labor after their earlier split with the Labor party) with the Commonwealth Liberal Party. ... The United Australia Party or UAP was an Australian political party that was the political successor to the Nationalist Party of Australia. ...

Fenton was appointed as Postmaster General in the new UAP government. But he soon fell out with his fellow ministers over tariff policy. He resigned in October 1932 over a Cabinet decision which he felt gave insufficient protection to Australian industry. He remained on the government backbench and ran again as a UAP candidate for Maribyrnong at the general election in 1934, but the seat was naturally a Labor one. He had been able to win it for the UAP in the anti-Labor landslide of 1931, but in 1934 Fenton lost to the Labor candidate, Arthur Drakeford, suffering a 7% swing. A Postmaster General is the national politician in charge of the postal system of a country. ... A tariff (sometimes known as a customs duty) is a tax on imported or exported goods. ... 1932 (MCMXXXII) is a leap year starting on a Friday. ...

After his defeat Fenton served as a director of the Commonwealth Oil Refineries 1934-6. He died on December 2, 1950. December 2 is the 336th day (337th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1950 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...