DEATH OF MR ROBERTS

Otago Witness, Issue 3117, 10 December 1913, Page 27

DEATH OF MR ROBERTS

MELBOURNE, December 2. Mr E. A. Roberts, member for AdelaicU in the Federal House of Representatives, and bon. Minister in the Fisher Cabinet, dropped dead in the precincts of the Houa( this afternoon after participating in * debate. December 3. Air Roberts, who died suddenly yesterday, for many years suffered from heart trouble. His death was tragio in its circumstances. Just prior to it he had been engaged in a wrangle with the Chairman of Committees, who threatened Mr Roberta because of his interjection, and said that if he continued in his attitude of insolence towards the Chair ho (the Chairman) would have to deal with him. Mr Roberts getting his hat and stick, was proceeding along the Queen’s Hall, when he tottered and fell, clutching the base of the statue of Queen Victoria. Drs Maloney and O’Hara came to his assistance, and pronuunced life extinct. Mr Cook and Mr Fisher paid tributes to the deceased, and the House passed a motion recognising his services and expressing sympathy with his widow and family, and then adjourned until Thursday. - r Roberts’s death is a severe blow to the Labour party, of which he was a prominent member, and so closely following that of Mr Frazer (also a leading Labour member) it will be doubly felt.