OBITUARY

Northern Advocate, 9 August 1929, Page 8

OBITUARY

MR HENRY OTT.ERSON. Mr Henry Otterson, who was Clerk of the House of Representatives for 17 years before he retired on superannuation in 1915, died at the Coromandel Hospital on Tuesday night, at the age of S 4.

Mr Otterson was during his long career one of the most trusted officers of Parliament. He was connected with the House of Representatives from 1870 to 1915, tilling- the position of Clerk-Assistant for 17 years, and that of Clerk of the House, the highest position on the staff, from 1898 to 1915. He was created C.M.G. in 1913 in recognition of his services.

Mr Otterson was born at Richmond, Nelson, in 1846, and was- the eldest son of Mr Francis Otterson, one of ' the original Nelson settlers. ,At Nelson College he held a foundation scholarship for general knowledge and the Stafford, scholarship for modern history. On leaving school he spent two and a-half years in a merchant’s office, another two and a-half years on gheep and cattle stations, and a year as a miner at Coromandel. When a youngman he was one- of the first players of Rugby foot-bait in Wellington.

Even after Mr Otterson left, official life his usefulness remained, for he compiled several works that are still standard book® of reference to members of Parliament. 'Such, for instance, is his “Notes on Proceedings in Committee, said to be the only textbook in existence, and his “ Ruling® of the Speakers," which cites the dicta of the Speakers from the beginning of matters Parliamentary in New Zealand. .In early manhood he was a portrait painter of some distinction, and produced two notable presentations of Sir William Pitzherbert when he was Speaker of the Legislatiye Council, and Sir Maurice O’Eorke,.' as Speaker of the*'House of Representatives. The latter portrait hangs in the Wellington Public Library.

Some years ago Mr Otterson made his home at Coromandel, where he was able to indulge in his favourite pastime of fishing. I Mrs Otterson, who predeceased her husband by several years, was a daughter of the late Rev. H. H. Turton, an early and well-known missionary, who landed at Hokianga in 1840. There remains a grown-up family. Two married daughters, Mrs Burnett, of Wellington, and Mrs Brown, of Hastings, have been in Coromandel during their father’s illness.

The interment will take place at Nelson. \