OBITUARY

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 156, 30 December 1938, Page 9

OBITUARY

MR. WILLIAM W. TANNER

7 ■ ■ V — • The death of' Mr. William Wilcox Tanner, formerly M.P. for Heathcote

and Avon and probably the last of the representatives, elected in 1890 to the eleventh Parliament in New Zealand, occurred on Tuesday at the residence of his son, Mr. W. A. Tanner, formerly Censor of Films,' in Jubilee Road, Khandallah. He was in his 88th year. v , ;

Born at Moulton, in Northamptonshire, in 1851, Mr. Tanner was educated at the Church of England School and there learned 'his trade as a cordwainer. He married in 1877, Emily E. Browett, daughter of John Browett, Northampton. In. consequence of the trade depression in the United

Kingdom which followed the Glasgow Bank failure in the .seventies, Mr. Tanner emigrated to New Zealand in 1879, arriving at Lyttelton by the ship Waitara on Christmas Eve of that year.

In Canterbury Mr. Tanner took an active part in local body, co-opera-tive, trade union, and friendly society movements, arid when the unrest in the late eighties culminated in the general strike of 1890, Mr. Tanner took an active and moderating part in North Canterbury. The General Election following immediately after the strike, he was elected as representative for Heathcote and assisted in the displacement of the Sir Harry: Atkinson Ministry and its replacement by the administration of the Hon. John Ballance. The Heathcote electorate being abolished and merged into Lyttelton and Avon in 1893, Mr. Tanner represented .-Avon until 1908. He was a member of Parliament for 18 years in all.

In Parliament Mr. Tanner was a sup? porter in general of the Liberal Governments of Ballance, Seddon, and Ward, but always maintained a considerable measure of independence, being radically inclined. For a number of years he was chairman of the Public Accounts Committee and Rail-1 ways Committee of Parliament." In 1892 he was made a Justice of the Peace, and in 1895 he was a member of the Commission on Tariff Revision. In local affairs Mr. Tanner served several years on the committee of the Ferry Road, now Woolston, School. He was a member of the Woolston Borough Council from 1893 to 1900. and was a member of the North Canterbury Hospital Board from 1911 to 1914. As a young man Mr. Tanner joined the Ancient Order of Foresters in England, becoming Chief Ranger of the Court Star Centre of England. On arrival in New Zealand he immediately joined Court Star of Canterbury, of which he became Chief Ranger. He also held district court office in the order. He was a Forester continuously for over 60 years. Since the death of his wife eleven years ago, Mr. Tanner led a retired life at his residence in Linwood, Christchurch, until recently, when he came to Wellington to reside with his son. He is survived by his only child, Mr. W. A. Tanner, Khandallah, and two grandchildren, Mr. William Walter Tanner and Miss Ruth Tanner.

The funeral, which was private, took place today. Services were conducted at the mortuary chapel in Kent Terrace and at the crematorium, Karori Cemetery, by the Rev. D. C. Bates.