Pereira (João Augusto)

He was born in the town (vila) of Ribeira Brava (‘wild river’) on 26 May 1857, the son of António de Sousa da Silva Pereira and Dona Luísa da Conceição Pereira. He attended the Funchal lyceum (state secondary school) and the former Polytechnic School and Army School, and was commissioned second lieutenant of artillery on 7 January 1885. He served at Vendas Novas, where he also taught at the Practical School of Artillery (Escola Prática de Artilharia), and from there he moved to Funchal. There he served as a subaltern and later, after promotion to captain, as commander of No. 3 Garrison Artillery Company. He was also commander of war material on the island of Madeira. In every military duty and commission he undertook, he proved a highly intelligent, spirited officer and a firm disciplinarian.

João Augusto Pereira represented Madeira in the Cortes (Portuguese parliament) in the legislatures of 1900, 1902–1904, 1904, 1905–1906, 1900–1907 and 1908–1910. It was he who, on his political debut in the Chamber of Deputies in 1900, drew the government’s attention to the need to complete the irrigation levadas (irrigation channels) of our island. His speech earned words of praise from the then Minister of Public Works, the late Councillor (conselheiro, honorary title of the royal council) Elvino de Brito.

In the same legislative session he took an active part in the debate on the bill he had introduced, co-signed by other deputies, concerning the reorganisation of the services of these levadas. It was also he who, in 1900, introduced the first bill seeking administrative autonomy for Madeira, which never came to a vote because the government fell at that time.

It was thanks to the deputy João Augusto Pereira that the Municipal Council of Funchal was authorised to raise a loan of 400 contos from the Caixa Geral dos Depósitos to meet the cost of the sewerage and drinking-water works of Funchal – a most important service, though some council sessions failed to make proper use of it. He was also responsible for the establishment of the telephone network in Funchal and for preserving the archipelago’s division into judicial districts (comarca), still in force, which someone wished to alter, etc., etc.

Of the many speeches made by the deputy João Augusto Pereira, the only one published in this city was the one he delivered at the session of 17 March 1903 on the anarchic state of the district of Funchal.

He was a provisional teacher at the Funchal lyceum (state secondary school) and one of the editors of the former Diario Popular and of the Diario da Madeira, and he held an eminent place in the Madeiran press among the journalists of his day. The now defunct Progressive Party, in which he was always active, owed him notable services. He was one of the most valuable collaborators of his father-in-law, the late Councillor (conselheiro, honorary title of the royal council) Manuel José Vieira, who for many years led that party here in Madeira.

João Augusto Pereira abandoned politics after the proclamation of the Republic in our country. During the last fifteen years of the monarchy he had been one of the men who enjoyed the greatest influence and prestige in this district, and one of those who defended the needs of the archipelago most selflessly. He died in this city on 22 June 1915, by then a retired major of artillery.