NEW ZEALAND JUDGE DIES IN SYDNEY

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 61, 3 June 1927, Page 1

NEW ZEALAND JUDGE DIES IN SYDNEY

SIR W. B. EDWARDS PASSES UNIQUE JUDICIAL CAREER By Cable.—Press Association.—Copyright SYDNEY, Thursday. The death occurred to-day of Sir W. B. Edwards, late senior puisne judge of the New Zealand Supreme Court, in his 77th year. Sir Worley Bassett Edwards was born in London. His father, Mr. C. S. W. Edwards, came to New Zealand with his family in 1855, arriving at Port Chalmers, and settling at Portobello. Mr. Justice Edwards was educated at the Otago Bays’ High School, and was admitted as a barrister and solicitor in 1875. In IS9O he accepted a judgeship, but the appointment was made the subject of a party fight on the ground that the Atkinson Government had exceeded its powers in appointing a sixth judge. The Appeal Court upheld the appointment. but the case then went to the Privy Council, who upheld the appeal of the Ballance Ministry, which came into office in 1891, and Mr. Edwards was excluded from the bench. In 1896 he was again appointed a judge, and became president of the Arbitration Court from IS9B to 1900. He was’ acknowledged to be the greatest authority on the New Zealand bench in regard to native titles. For some years, in the later stage of his Supreme Court service, he was stationed in Auckland. Shortly before retirement in 1921 he was honoured with a knighthood.