THE HON. RICHARD OLIVER.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 12, 16 January 1911, Page 11

THE HON. RICHARD OLIVER.

f KDEATH'AFTER ILONGl LONG ILLNESS. . (]?rom Our Own Correspondent.) - ,-'■ LONDON, 2nd December. 'It is with'Tegrst that I have to record the death of the Hon. Richard Oliver, which* took place early on Sunday morning at his residence, 13, Coilingham Gardens, W. The deceased gentleman will be well remembered by the 'older generation ' in New Zealand, . with the life and development of whieU he- was intimately associated during the second half of the last century. Ml 1 . Oliver retired from public life in 1899, when he settled down permanently in. London, but it may bo said that even in his retirement he remained, a close student of New Zealand uffaus. Mr. Oliver, who was eighty years of age, had the misfortune to meet with a serious' accident twelve months, ago. Ho had come into the city on business and while ciossing the road he was knocked down by a passing vehicle. It was known at the time that serious injuries had been inflicted, but under careful nursing at home he made w.hat appeared to be a remarkable recovery, and so well did be become that he was able to leave for Bournemouth to recuperate. He returned to London early this year and shortly afterwards complications manifested themselves. Mr. Oliver had to take to his bed, and a-protracted-ill-ness, lightened by mere brief periods of conscious recognition of his wife, only ended with death last Sunday. Considerable sympathy if felt for Mrs. Olive*, who has most devotedly attended her husband ever since the accident last year and she feels her loss very keenly. Mrs. Oliver, who married the Hon. Richard Oliver in 1885, as his second •;;ife, is the youngest sister of Lord Courtney of Penwith, a fellow-townsman and close friend of the deceassd for more than sixty years - By birth, the deceased gentleman was a Cornishman, having been born at Penzance in 1830. H© received his business training at Nottingham, and emigrated in 1854 to Melbourne. Ha reached New Zealand in the early sixties, settled in Dunedin, and .quickly was head of the successful firm known as the New Zealand Hardware Company. He took a financial t interest in the construction of the Dunedin and Port Chalmers railway and the opening up of the Westport coalfields, and was pssoeiated in other ways with banking, shipping, and farming His estate at Ccrriedale was acquired a few years ago by the Government. Mr. Oliver .entered public life as amember of the Provincial Council for Otago, and, later on, in 1878, he went to the House of Representatives as member for Dunedin. He served as Postmaster-General and Minister vi Minister of Public Works under Sir John Hall, Sir Frederick Whitaker, and Sir Harry Atkinson, and in 1881 was nominated life member of the Legislative Council, which he led for the "Government. He resigned his place on the Council in 1899, when he returned to England.

Rimu, of which many of the barges for the Nelson harbour improvement works were constructed, though cheaper in the initial outlay, has proved a rather expensive item, reports a locnl exchange. At last meeting of the board the chairman stated that they had been an endless expense ever since they had been in the water, and now they -veie practically useless. The board lnstvricted the chairman tv go carefully into the matter of ascertaining the best method to proceed in the rebuilding of ee\eral of the barges.

For EroneSidl Cough e Ulcs Wood*' Greet Feppsraiat .Cure, li 6d Mid 2a 6d.<~Adn