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Wairarapa Times-Age, 1 July 1940, Page 4

z ' > Walter " iker i "’bf the at his home f.e is survived ghter, Miss S. i, Mr Claude A. Sir Walter - the Speakery 'i. 1939, Walter compl -cord term service and hau the office of Spl ea her for 21 years. At-, that time mafsy eloquent tributes were paid and the’_Leader of the Council, Mr Fagan, commented that Sir Walter’s had been a truly remarkable record. Born in Bendigo, Victoria, in 1885, and educated in New Zealand, Sir Walter (who was knighted in 1922} was elected to the House of Representatives in 1890 as member for Taieri, and held the seat till 1902, being appointed to the Legislative Council in the following year, and reappointed on five occasions. He became Chairman of Committees in 1910, and Speaker in 1918. ', j Among Parliamentarians in the Bri- -i tish Empire, Sir Walter ranked third F 533 * in length of service. Mr Lloyd George > . » had represented one constituency for 50 years. Running neck-and-neck with i him at the time was Dr R. W. Maloney, Melbourne, who had been elected in 1889. Sir Walter, when he retired from the Speakership, was in his forty-ninth year of service, and /Z--thus ranked third in the Empire, but • ' • had established a record for New Zea- - land. For some time, in the earlier days of his political career, Sir Walter was Government Whip when Mr Seddon was Premier of New Zealand. He was keen on military training in the old volunteer days and held the rank of captain in the Taieri Rifles. He was awarded the Victorian Decoration. In 1916 Sir Walter was one of four delegates sent to England at the instance of the Empire Parliamentary Association. For many years he was editor and proprietor of the “Eltham Argus,” and formerly owned the “Taieri Advocate.”