OBITUARY.

MR F. R. FLATMAN.

It was generally known that Mr Y. R. Flatman had been in indifferent health for some time past, but, nevertheless, the announcement of his death —which occurred at Wdodbury, Geraldine, shortly after II o'clock this morning—came as' a shock to his friends in the Ashburton district, where, as in South Canterbury, he was well known and highly respected. The deceased resided at " Summerlea," about four miles from Geraldine, where he had a farm of close on 1000 acres. He was born in the County of Suffolk, England, in 1843, educated at High House School, Oulton, and was brought up to farming on his father's farm, where he remained till he left for New Zealand in 1862, when he came out by the " Mary AnnV to Lyttelton. Shortly after his arrival- he went to South" Canterbury, and was on Mr Cox's station for some months.^ In 1865 he went into business as a storekeeper in Geraldine, and carried on m that line for six" months. Afterwards he joined Mr Robert Taylor in a sawmilling business and in farming, and had also had the .general store at Woodbury. In 1892 ' the partnership was dissolved, and Mr Flatman has since then' carried on farming at " Summerlea, " where he kept sheep and grew grain/ In 1876 Mr Flatman was" a niembeT of.the South Canterbury Board of Works, and was tor 19 years without a break a member of the, Geraldine '.Road Board. He was also for eight years a member of the Timaru Harbour Board. He was a Master Mason, and belonged to the first Geraldine lodge. In 1893 he was asked by, the electors to stand for the representation of Pareora in Parliament. To this request he acceded, and was elected by a majority of 216 in preference to Mr A. E. G. Rhodes. In 1896 the alterations of th© boundaries of the district led to the name being changed to Geraldine. Mr Flatman and Mr Rhodes stood again, and Mr Flatman .was again elected in 1896, by a majority of 211. At the- general election held' on the 6th December, 1899, he had two opponents, but was returned by a smajority of 1556. His opponent at the general election of November, 1902, was Mr W. S. Maslin, and the votes were :—Flatman, 2275, Maslin, 1303. In 1905 he again held the seat without difficulty, but in 1908/iu consequence of the alteration of electoral boundaries bringing a considerable part of his district into the Ashburton electorate, he threw in 'his' lot with Ashburton and became the Government candidate for the seat. The move proved unfortunate, for though »Mr Flatman headed the. poll • at' the first ballot (Flatman 2316, W. Nosworthy, 1347, D. Jones, 1325, J. D. Gobbe, 406, W. S. Maslin 276) ho was beaten at the second ballot, Mr Nosworthy securing election • by- 3014 votes to 2267. This ended a Parliamentary career, which had been spread ever a considerable period and been of great use,to the country. Mr Flatman.. .had held various offices of trust "in the. House, having been Deputy-Chairman of Committees for two years, and Chief Liberal Whip for double that length of time. Since 1908 he had interested himself keenly in local affairs, and he was Mayor of Geraldine for a term, besides chairman of numerous other bodies.