SIR W. B. EDWARDS DEAD.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19653, 3 June 1927, Page 9

SIR W. B. EDWARDS DEAD.

LATE NEW ZEALAND JUDGE. INCIDENTS H!S CAREER. ' NATIVE LANDS AUTHORITY. By Telegraph—Press Associatipn—Copyright. (Iteceivtd June 2, 9.30 p.m.) A. and N.Z. SYDNEY, June 2. The death occurred to-day of Sir W. B. Edwards, late stuior puisne Judge of tho New Zealand Supreme Court, in his 77th year. The late Sir Worley Bassett Edwards was born in London on September 5, 1850. His father, Mr. C. S. W. Edwards, came to New Zealand with his family in 1855, arriving at Port Chalmers by the ship Isabella Hercus, and settled at Portobello. Worley Bassett Edwards was educated at the Dunedin High School under the Rev. F. C. Simmons. There he took special prizes for English essays in 1864-5. Between 1871 and 1874 he travelled in Europe. Subsequently ho was articled to Messrs. Julius and O'Meagher, solicitors, of He was admitted to practice as a barrister and solicitor in 1875. Mr. Edwards then entered into partnership with Mr. W. S. Moorhouse, in Wellington On the retirement of Mr. Moorhouse in 1878 Mr. C. W. Cutten was admitted into the partnership. After Mr. Cutten's death in 1885 Mr. Edwards continued in practice on his own account until 1890, when he accepted a Judgeship of the Supreme Court. The uppointment was made the subject of a political party fight in Parliament in the session of 1890. on the ground that the Atkinson Government had exceeded its powers in appointing a sixth Judge. After the accession to office of the Mallance Ministry in 1891. proceedings were taken to test the question. The appointment was upheld by the Court of Appeal, but the case was taken bv the Ministry to the Privy Council, which allowed the appeal, and Mr. Edwards was thus excluded from the Bench. In the year 1894-5 Mr. Edwards was president of the Wellington Law Society. In 1896 he was again appointed a Judge, and he was president nf tho Industrial Arbitration Court from 1898 to, 1900, succeeding Mr. Justice Williams, tho first holder of that office. No*' imputation was ever made against him in connection with the first Supreme Court appointment. The whole question was as to the legality of the proceed ines of the Government which had appointed him. The proceedings involved him in a loss of several thousands of pounds, and were the 4 ground of a petition on his own part to Parliament for redress, which resulted in his beinc voted, in 1902, a sum of £5500 in compensation ' At one stage in his judicial career Mr. Justice Edwards held the office of Com missioner under the Native Land Acts, which involved him in some years' work in connection with the titles to the great blocks of native land in the East Coast districts of the south-east portions of th< Auckland provincial district, in the neighbourhood of Poverty Bay. Ever afterwards he was acknowledged as the highest judicial authority on the New Zealand Bench in regard to native land titles. For some vears in the latter part of his Judgeship he was stationed in Auckland. Then, after attachment foi a considerable time to the Wellington circuit, he retired from the Bench in 1921. Shortly before his retirement the honour of knighthood was conferred noon him. The remaining years of his life were spent mostly in travelling if foreign countries