Vieira (Councillor Manuel José)

He was one of the men who rendered the most distinguished services to Madeira, both as a parliamentarian and as a member of the various bodies to which he belonged. No one understood better than he the duties laid upon a citizen. He often went so far as to sacrifice not only his peace and well-being but even his own health in order to serve well in the unpaid offices with which politics or his friends invested him, to the applause of all the people of Funchal. He always placed his clear intelligence and organising spirit at the service of his country, and he worked with the most resolute goodwill to the end of his life, moved solely by the desire to be useful to his homeland and his fellow citizens.

Manuel José Vieira, son of Manuel José Vieira and Dona Luísa Correia Vieira, both natives of the Azores, was born in Funchal on 7 August 1836. He attended secondary school in this city and in 1855 left for Coimbra, where, after sitting the so-called maturity examination, he enrolled at the University, completing his degree in law in 1860. That same year he entered the competition for the post of teacher of geography and history at the Funchal lyceum (state secondary school). After brilliant examinations he was appointed to the post, which he held for about 40 years with the greatest competence and with a zeal that might be equalled but not surpassed. From 1864 to 1868 he was president of the Funchal Municipal Council (Câmara Municipal do Funchal), an office he held again from 1899 to 1908. In directing the affairs of the municipality he gave ample proof of his concern for the improvement of the city and of the conditions of those who live in it. Had he not left the presidency of the Council in 1908, the city might perhaps possess today a sewerage network and a good supply of drinking water, improvements in which, as is well known, he took a keen interest.

Dr Manuel José Vieira was deputy for Madeira in the legislatures of 1879, 1882–1884, 1884–1887, 1887–1889 and 1894–1895, and in 1889 he was elected peer of the realm for the district of Vila Real, although he never took his seat in that chamber. Among the benefits he obtained for Madeira as a deputy were the unification of the currency; the studies for the road around the island by the engineer Tellier, for which he secured a credit of 30 contos (1 conto = 1,000,000 réis, from 1911 1,000 escudos); the special legislation that gave the levadas (irrigation channels) of Madeira legal standing to safeguard their rights; the collection of the land on which the theatre and the municipal garden were built; the exemption from tonnage dues for steamers calling at the port of Funchal; the exemption from duties on the import of maize from 1882 to 1886; and the construction of the artificial harbour at the locality (sítio) of Pontinha (‘little point’), etc., etc.

Besides serving as deputy and as president of the Municipality, Dr Manuel José Vieira held many other offices. He was a district councillor, president of the former District General Council (Junta Geral), president of the Administrative Committee (Comissão Administrativa) of the Holy House of Mercy (Santa Casa da Misericórdia), a member of the Asylum committee, a member of the Anti-Phylloxera Committee, secretary and president of the Commercial Association, president of the general meeting and director of the Monte Railway (Caminho de Ferro do Monte) Company, president of the general meeting of the insurance company Madeiran Alliance (Aliança Madeirense), etc., etc. The former Funchal Beneficent Association owed him the most outstanding services. He was also a highly distinguished lawyer and a devoted protector of Madeiran agriculture.

Dr Manuel José Vieira held the title of Councillor (carta de conselho), and was later awarded the Grand Cross of the Order of Nossa Senhora da Conceição de Vila Viçosa for the truly remarkable way in which he represented the city during the visit that the former sovereigns King Carlos I and Empress Amélie made to this island in 1901. He was a member of the Coimbra Institute, the Association of Writers and Journalists and the Lisbon Geographical Society.

He was one of the editors of the Revista Juridica, a weekly publication that first appeared in this city on 19 October 1870, and he contributed to several Funchal newspapers, among them O Direito (‘Law’) and the Diário Popular (‘The People’s Daily’). Of his speeches, those he delivered in the Chamber of Deputies at the sittings of 7 May 1883, 13 February 1884 and 7 July 1888 (Questão da propriedade na Madeira) were reprinted as pamphlets. He died in Funchal on 12 June 1912. See Unificação da moeda and Rua da Carreira.