DEATH OF MR TRAVERS.

Evening Star, Issue 11871, 27 April 1903, Page 4

DEATH OF MR TRAVERS.

WELLINGTON, April 27. Mr William Thomas Locke Travels, the well-known and much-respected barrister and solicitor of this city, met his death through an accident which occurred at the Lower Hutt railway station last night, Mr Travers went to the station to see a friend off, and remained in the carriage until the train began to move. In alighting on to the station platform he knocked against a guard who was keeping back the bystanders, and fell between the platform and the train- The train immediately stopped, and the sufferer, who was perfectly conscious and selfpossessed, removed on a stretcher to his home. On medical assistance being summoned it was found necessary to amputate the right leg. Mr Travers died at six o'clock this morning, aged eighty-four years.

Mr Travers was very badly injured. His nose was broken, bis leg horribly crushed, and other parts were injured. Amputation, of the leg was necessary. The operation took place between midnight and 1 a.m. to-day, and the deceased died four hours later. Deceased, who was eighty-four years of age, and who still practised at the Bar, was the oldest and one of the best-known lawyers in the colony. He was a member of the Executive of the first Parliament of the colony, and later a member of the House of Representatives. He came to the colony in 1849, first settling in Nelson and then Canterbury, and finally in Wellington, all of which places he represented in Parliament. He was one of the founders and a prominent member of the New Zealand Institute. There was a large gathering of the legal fraternity in court this morning, when Mr Bell (president of the New Zealand Law Society), Mr Skerrett (president of the Wellington branch), and the Chief Justice paid a high tribute to the personal character, high attainments, and public services of the deceased gentleman. [William Thomas Locke Travers, P.L.S., son of Captain Boyle Travers, of the Rifle Brigade, by his marriage with Miss Caroline Brockman, of Beacnborough, in Kent, was born at • Castleview, near Newcastle, County Limerick, on January 9, 1819. He was lieutenant in the 2nd Lancers, 8.A.L.5., from 1836 to 1838, and served in Spain during those years, part of the time as aide-de-camp to General Espartero, afterwards Duke De Victoria. Mr Travers was married at Cork, Ireland, on October 22, 1843, to Miss Jane Oldham, and arrived in New Zealand on October 20, 1849. He has at various times represented the Waimea district in Nelson and the cities of Christchurch and Wellington in the NewZealand House of Representatives, and was Attorney-General of the colony in the first inchoate Ministry, from the end of August to the beginning of September, 1854. Mr Travers, who was District Judge in Nelson from 1859 to 1860, was married a second time, on April 9, 1891, at Wellington, New Zealand, to Miss Theodosria Leslie Barclay, daughter of Captain W. de R. Barclay, of that city. He is P.L.S. and Grand Officier l'Ordre Royal du Cambode. Mr Travers, after resiening the judgeship, removed from Nelson, where he was on one occasion an unsuccessful candidate for the Superintendency of the province, and settled in Canterbury, where in 1866 he sought election as Provincial Superintendent, but was defeated by the late Mr W. Sefton Moorhonse. Of late years Mr Travers has left the active control of his business to other members of has firm. In public life Mr Travers's name has been familiar for many i years. Among members of the Bar he was respected as one of the soundest and deepest-read lawyers in the cclcny. A man of studious habits, and an inquirer from his youth, he had in his lifetime amassed' such a fund of knowledge that he was looked upon as an authority on many subjects, scientific as well as general. Both in business and out of it he was noted for his unvarying integrity and uprightness, and for his often impetuous warmheartedness. His private life was characterise of the man. An ardent botanist, he would spend hours each day in his garden and hothouses, in which he took great pride, and had collected many rare and valuable plants and trees. Photography, too, was one of his dearest hobbies, and by his efforts in this direction he had won several trophies. He was possessed also of a facile pen, and has written a great deal of interesting matter. One of his larger efforts in this direction was his book 'From New Zealand to Lake Michigan,' an account of a journey made by him some years ago over that route. He was one of the most genial of hosts, and some of his after-dinner stcries of his experiences are well known to many. He was noted, too, for the extiaordinary physical pluck and endurance which sustained him even in his declining years, and came out so strongly at the last A year or two ago he underwent an operation which, though he made light of it, must have shaken him, and within recent times he has shown some signs of failing. Mr Travers has several friends in Dunedin, and his death will be widely mourned.] [Spbciu. to ths Stab.] WELLINGTON, ApTil 27. It was only on Saturday last that Mr Travers, speaking on behalf of the New Zealand Bar as probably the oldest member thereof, supported the protest made by the Judges of the Appeal Court against reflections made bv the Privy Council on the probity and independence of the colonial Court The Chief Justice, in thanking Mr Travers end the members of the Bar, added: "Of course, members of the Bar present are aware of the time you have been at the Bar. You are, I suppose, the oldest barrister in the colony. It is about fifty years since you were a member of the first l&ecutive Ministry of New Zealand, and I don't know any member of the Bar that has had your long experience or your high reputation at the Bar since you entered it." MR JUSTICE WILLIAMS'S TRIBUTE OF RESPECT. Upon taking his seat at the Supreme Court at 11 a.m. to-day Mr Justice Williams said: Before proceeding with the business of the Court I should like to pay a short tribute of respect to the memory of the oldest member of the Bar in New Zealand. Mr Travers unfortunately met with an accident on Sunday. Since then, I regret to say, he has succumbed. [Here the members of the Bar present and the court officials rose.] Mr Travers was, as I have said, the oldest member of the Bar in New Zealand. He has been associated with the history of the colony from the time that it was.granted a constitution. He was a member of the first Parliament in New Zealand in 1854. He was also, as early as August 1E54, a member of the Ministry. Ainohrat his colleagues was the late Mr Macandrew: Mr Travers had attained the great age of eighty-four years; yet he was as bright and as intellectually vigorous as a youth. His last aptJearance in 'court was on Saturday last. On that occasion, with great dignity ahd vigor, he spoke to defend the honor of the Court with which he had bo long been associated. That was indeed a fitting crjown to a lpn£ and useful career. J