PARLIAMENTARIAN DEAD.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 188, 4 May 1908, Page 7

PARLIAMENTARIAN DEAD.

' MR. J. BENNETT. ';; A BY-ELECTION- NECESSARY. " ;/• • (bt telegraph.'—rnEss association.) : ." '■ - • _ ■' ' Gore, May 3. Mr. James Bennett, M.P. for Tuapoka lied at his residence, Rae's Junction, tliii morning. ■■ Deceased was a leading figure in the Beau. thont district, and was.-closely identified with ' tho.-public ' lifo of tho place. Ho was a nember.orthe Tuaneka County Council since ts , inception ■in tho seventies. He first ■ sntered tho 'Hbuse in 1899, ivhen lie defeated - ' Messrs. Rawlings and Fraser. In 1902 lie ■ lefeated Mr. ..R. Gilkison: by,. 64 votes, and : ivas- successful anain. over, tho samo opponent it last election'by close "on 1000 votes. 1 Mr. Bennett arrived in the' district from Victoria in 1863, nnd after a year or two >n the goldficlds ho took'ur) an agricultural uid pastoral; property - at "Raefs . Junction, ivhich ho has hold since. ' Deceased was a lativo of Forfarshire, and emigrated to Vienna in 1854; He was 78 years of ago, and eaves a family of tlireo sons and one laughter.. v -. ' Tho deceased, who had become a familiar igurc in tho House of Representatives, gavo : ' ;igns last session of failing health, though lio ras rarely absent,from his seat in the cliam- - icr. Deceased was a Government member. J - v though not a vigorous debater, and beinnutterly .physically incapable of making his oice more than barely audible over tho hambeiy lie was nevertheless known as a bnsoieritious member,- and one whose views ame from conviction. . . ■ 1 ' Tho ; by-election- , thus rendered necessarv •ill bo fought on'tlib basis'of' tho old ciecoral boundary.