Basil Arthur

Background

Sir Basil (/ˈbæzəl/) was born in Timaru, New Zealand. His father, a hotel proprietor, inherited the title of 4th Baronet in 1941 and it passed to Basil upon his death in 1949.

Career

Sir Basil, who showed a preference for labouring jobs, made little of his title. In 1960 he stood for Labour in the Hamilton electorate, coming second. In the 1962 by-election, he was elected to Parliament as the Labour Member of Parliament for Timaru.

On entering Parliament at age 33 he was the country"s youngest Member of Parliament. He was reluctant to be called "Sir", but the Speaker at the time said that refusing this honorific would be disrespectful to the Queen.

Cabinet minister

He was Minister of Transport and Minister in Charge of the State Insurance Office from 1972 until 1975. Speaker

He served as Speaker for one year, before passing away in office after a short illness.

The then Prime Minister, David Lange recalled in My Life (2005) that Sir Basil was gravely ill in Wellington Hospital, and if he resigned from the member"s superannuation scheme before he died (but not otherwise) his estate would get a lump-sum payment. He had to answer a question in the house, then went to hospital with a letter of resignation "only to find that he had died hardly a minute before I got there".

Labour lost the subsequent Timaru by-election, with a candidate that did not suit "the conservative character of the electorate."

lieutenant is interesting to note that Sir Basil is the second baronet to serve as Speaker.

The first being Sir Charles Clifford, 1st Baronet (First Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives), although he was made a baronet some time after he had retired from politics.

Achievements

• When Labour won the 1984 election, Sir Basil became Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives.

Membership

He was a member of the Labour Party.