Established 1866. The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. Wednesday, April 29, 1903. A NOTABLE NEW ZEALANDER.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXXVII, Issue 99, 29 April 1903, Page 2

Established 1866. The Marlborough Express PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. Wednesday, April 29, 1903. A NOTABLE NEW ZEALANDER.

Following as it does so closely upon the deaths of the four Legislative Councillors alluded to in these columns a few days ago, the lamentable end of Mr W. L. Travers, of Wellington, can only be regarded as a very deplorable affair, Mr Travers was an old man— he was 84—but he Was famous, not only in Wellington, but throughout the colony for his astonishing mental and physical virility, indeed, he could very truly have been described as the most wonderful old man of the colony. Hia public career was long and most distinguished, whilst in his private profesnional capacity as a barrister he had achieved the highest possible reputation. Like so many other prominent colonists Mr Travers was an Irishman by birth. Educated in France, he served in the British Legion of Spain during the Carlist war of 1835-38, but afterwards studied law in London. He arrived in Nelson by the ship Kelso in 1849, and was admitted a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court, For some time Mr Ttavers held the position of District Court Judge in Nelson, but resigned and resumed private practice. la 1854 he entered the political arena | and successfully represented Nelson City and Waimea, resigning his memship of the General Assembly in 1858. In 1860 Mr Travers settled in Canterbury, where he resided for ten years, and for several years represented Christchurch City in Parliament. In 1809 he returned to Wellington and was elected member for that city, thus attainiug the honor of representing in turn each of the three cities, of which ho had been a resident. In educational matters Mr Travers always exhibited a lively interest. He was one of the founders of the New Zealand lustitute, of which he lias been a Governor since its incorporation, and the Transactions of the Institute bear testimony to his industry as a writer on a great variety of scientific and literary subjects. In his Nelson and Christchurch days he was a prominent volunteer, and held a commission as captain in the New Zealand Militia for nearly fifty years. He was an ardent botanist, and took a keen and most intelligent interest in acclimatisation work of all kinds. There was probably no better read man in New Zealand, and as a writer on political and social questions he wielded a trenchant and thought-compelling pen. He was twice married, his second wife, whom be married some ten years ago, being a daughter of Captain Barclay of Wellington. In private life he was much esteemed, for although he was very outspoken in the expression of his opinions, his years of reading and study had given him an almost encyclopiedic grasp of many very diverse questions, and he was really a brilliant conversationalist. Although he had reached a great age he was still remarkably active, and was a most enthusiastic cyclist. His sudden death must have come as a rude shock to a wide circle of friends all over tho

colony.