---
alias:
- Hugh Campbell Templeton
category: Political Figure
created: 2026-09-23
location: Wellington, New Zealand
relations:
- end: 1982-06-15
  fn: 1
  role: Minister of Customs
  start: 1978-12-13
  type: member_of
  with: '[[Executive Council of New Zealand]]'
- end: 1984-07-26
  fn: 3
  role: Minister of Trade and Industry
  start: 1981-12-11
  type: member_of
  with: '[[Executive Council of New Zealand]]'
summary: New Zealand National Party minister of customs from 1978 who, with Bill Birch,
  announced the 1981 distillery licence for the Temuka ethanol plant of Chemical Technology
  Limited.
tags:
- Person
- NewZealand
- Politician
- Customs
- RCHorsch
updated: 2026-09-23
---

Hugh Campbell Templeton is a [New Zealand](/places/new-zealand/) politician who served in the National ministry of Robert Muldoon. He was appointed Minister of Customs on December 13, 1978, in the ministry formed after the 1978 election, on the same day that [Bill Birch](/people/bill-birch/) was appointed Minister of Energy.[^1] At the reshuffle of February 12, 1981, he resigned the office of Minister of Broadcasting and kept Customs.[^2] On December 11, 1981, he gave up the office of Minister of Statistics and was appointed Minister of Trade and Industry, in succession to Lancelot Raymond Adams-Schneider.[^3][^4]

### Customs

A Gazette notice of June 15, 1982, records his resignation of the office of Minister of Customs and the appointment of Keith Reading Allen in his place.[^5] The Gazette's notice of the resignations of the outgoing ministers after the July 1984 election, however, lists Templeton as resigning "the Offices of Minister of Trade and Industry and Minister of Customs"; no intervening notice returning Customs to him, or removing it from Allen, has been located.[^6]

### The Temuka Distillery

On July 14, 1981, as Minister of Customs, Templeton announced that a licence had been approved for the distillery of [Chemical Technology Limited](/organizations/chemical-technology-limited/) at [Temuka](/places/temuka/), 15 kilometres north of Timaru, "the first such commercial venture in the South Island," to make industrial ethanol mainly from whey and beet crops; the announcement was made jointly with the Minister of Energy, Birch, who said the plant would save 250,000 dollars a year in overseas funds.[^7] The company's American director, who called himself Dr Stanley Stokowski, was the fugitive [R.C. Horsch](/people/rc-horsch/).

[^1]: *New Zealand Gazette,* December 13, 1978, Extraordinary, No. 107, p. 3406 ("The Honourable Hugh Campbell Templeton, to be Minister of Customs"). https://gazette.howison.co.nz/nzg/1978/issue/107/page/3406
[^2]: *New Zealand Gazette,* February 12, 1981, Extraordinary, No. 14, p. 323 ("The Honourable Hugh Campbell Templeton, of the office of Minister of Broadcasting"). https://gazette.howison.co.nz/nzg/1981/issue/14/page/323
[^3]: *New Zealand Gazette,* December 11, 1981 (gazetted December 14, 1981), Supplement, No. 149, p. 3780 ("The Honourable Hugh Campbell Templeton, to be Minister of Trade and Industry"). https://gazette.howison.co.nz/nzg/1981/issue/149/page/3780
[^4]: *New Zealand Gazette,* December 11, 1981, Supplement, No. 149, p. 3779 ("The Honourable Hugh Campbell Templeton, of the Office of Minister of Statistics"). https://gazette.howison.co.nz/nzg/1981/issue/149/page/3779
[^5]: *New Zealand Gazette,* June 15, 1982, Supplement, No. 63, p. 1861 ("The Honourable Hugh Campbell Templeton of the Office of Minister of Customs ... The Honourable Keith Reading Allen, to be Minister of Customs"). https://gazette.howison.co.nz/nzg/1982/issue/63/page/1861
[^6]: *New Zealand Gazette,* July 26-27, 1984, Supplement, No. 130, p. 2911 ("The Honourable Hugh Campbell Templeton, of the Offices of Minister of Trade and Industry and Minister of Customs"). https://gazette.howison.co.nz/nzg/1984/issue/130/page/2911
[^7]: "Ethanol plant at Temuka," *The Press* (Christchurch), July 15, 1981. https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/CHP19810715.2.31