DEATH OF MR W. L. TRAVERS.

(Fkoji Ouk Own Correspondent.) WELLINGTON, April 27.

On Saturday morning as I heard Mr W. T. L. Travars, as the oldest member of the New Zealand Bar, speaking in defence of the privilege* of th'e'New Zealand Court of Appeal, I could not but marvel at the clear intellect and vitality of a man over whose head 84 summers had passed. It seemed as if he might well continue in active practice for several years to come, but to-day, in the same chamber where on Saturday _he speke as the representative of the N«w Zealand Bar, the scone was a snd one as his cjlleagucs assembled after his somewhat euddeii and tragic death to pay a tribute to his memory and his many virtues. It appears that on Sunday evening, after e c cortmg a lady frie.nd from his residence to the Lower Hutt railway station, he remained talking to her in the carriage till the tra ; n had started. Two young fellows v, ho were present endeavoured to difisuad.6 him from alighting from the carnage while the train was in motion, but, confident of his own agility, he stepped on to the platform. Unfortunately, 'ie knocked against a guard looking in an opposite direction, who was keeping the bystanders back from the train, and tfipn, ricochetting back against the moving oarriaprc.3, fell between the platform and the rail?. TiiO3e who saw the mishap raised the alarm, and the train was quickly pulled up. Mr Travers was found lying on the line, his right leg crushed near the ankle and his head and body badly bruised. He was lifted \ipon a stretcher and removed to his home in the neighbourhood. It all happened so quickly that many in the train were unaware of the accident. Drs Purely, Valentine, and Hamilton attended him at his home, and later in the evoning Dr Collins went out from Wellington. It was found necessary to amputate the injured limb, and the operation wa3 performed shortly after midnight, the leg being removed below the knee. Mr Travers rallied splendidly after the operation, but towards 5 o'clock this morning unfavourable symptoms were noticed, and he sank gradually, expiring about 5 a.m. There were other serious injurie. besides the crushed leg, including a broken nose, cuts about the face and head, and bruises on the body, and rt is supposed that there was also internal injury. Mr Trovers was perfectly conscious and self-possessed efter the accident, and he remarked to Constable Patton, who assisted to lift him up and remove -him to hie home : " I collided with the ?uard."

Tho news of the accident, which was published this morning, caused a feejing of widespread regret, which changed to one of genuine sorrow when it became known later that Mr Travers had passe-d away. He was certainly a very remarkable man, and a great deal might be written not only about his attainments, but also about his experiences. As a young man he gained distinction on the battlefields of Spain, whero. during the Carlist war of 1835-38, he served a? lioutfnant in the British legion, and in recognition of his service-? received » decoration from the King of Spain. Mr Travers was born in Limerick (Ireland) on the 9ch of January. 1819. and was educated in France at the College of St. Servan. After his experiences in the Spanish Revolution ho studied law in England, and was called to tho Bar in London in 1844. He came to New Zealand in 1849. For some time he was judge of the District Court at Neleon, but he resigned that position and returned to the nraotiee- of his profession. In 1854 ho was returned to the first Go-neral Assembly as member for Nelson, which he represented during the two sessions of that year and the sessions of 1855. Mr Travors was plcetrd a member of tho second Parliament in the year 1856 for. the Waimea dis-trii-t, ami continued a member till 1858, ■when he- resiencd. Two years later Mr Travers left Nolf-on for Canterbury, where he hvod and practised till 1868, and was for *everal years a member of the General Assembly for Christchurch City. While resident there he took a prominent part in local politics, being elected to a seat in the council in 1864, and afterwards becomine; one of the Executive at the time when Mr BoaW was Superintendont of the pro\infe Aft<»r his removal to Wellington in 1869 Mr Travors represented rhat city in the Genoral Assembly. Thus ho had the honour of representing the three cities in which he lived. Mr Travers has taken a foremost place in connection with many colonial institutions and societies. He was one of the founders of thf New Zealand Institute. He prepared all th<> statutes connected it, has been a governor since its incorporation, and has rsontribuffvl many papers ou tlje foundation of the Wellington College. Ho was elected one of th« first Board of Governors, a position from which he rotired because he believed the whole of the endowments were being misapplied. He lesigned his seat as a protest. The Post, in an obituary notice, mentions that Mr Travers continued in the active practice of his profession to the very last, displayintf i knowledge of law and practice, as well as a general keenness and a capacity for quickly grasping a. point, that wa3 remakable in one of his years. In one of his last cases before a jury he had opposed to him a leading barrister considerably his junior in years. Mr Travers, in addressing the jury at the close of a prolonged hearing, frankly admitted that he was labouring under a great disadvantage in having to carry pome four score years on his shoulders. He made some pointed remarks on the persuasive eloquence of his learned friend, and gave an interesting disquisition ah ii* Mibis^t ci .(be. duties of. solicitors to

clients, and on the jury system, dealing, inter alia, in forcible terms with the fact that the oily-tongued lawyer with the weak case only too often succeeded in getting tho jury to his side. The address was plentifully interspersed with examples of pungent wit that were fully appreciated by all that hoard it, and was distinctly uuique. In the latter connection there are many who will remember incidents connected with the veteran lawyer's appearance before the late Mr Justice Richmond. The learned judge himself dearly loved a joke, and had always an apt simile to appiiy to the case be-fore him. Mr Travers would occasionally cap a smart remark or a good story by the judge with another equally as good, and ■his Honor would chuckle and tell another. It served to relieve the tedium of dry law, and made tho proceedings entertaining, and ■ertainly the parties to the suit lost nothing by the diversion. In the conduct of cases in the courts Mr Travers was always scrupulously fair, and this fact has on more than one occasion evoked the favourable comment of the bench. Quite recently in a case before Mr Justice Denniston, his Honor, while disapproving of certain aspects of the ca«e, said he cou'd not refrain from expressing his full approval of the attitude takon by Mr Travers throughout. He had ar-tecl with the best interests of justice in view, and fully in accordance with the reputation he had earned in the past. No sketch of the deceased gentleman's career would be complete without a reference to his ru?h scientific attainments, and his valuable services through a long scries of years as a member of the small but brilliant body of men who have ghen this rolony an honoured ph cc in tho world of ecie ice. An enthusiast in pbotographv. skilled in nearly every branch of natural history, in geology, palaeontology, zoology, and botany, abreast of all tho latest discoveries, which ho fol-

lowed with keen Interest, he couM speak with the authority of an expert. Associated from the beginning with the New Zealand Philosophic il Institute, he has during the many years of hi;< residence in this city taken a leading part in the work of the local branch, being almost continually on the council and repeatedly filling the presidential and vice-presidential chair. His successive addresses as president, embracing as they usually did a review of the w orld's science for the year, took in a wide scope and evinced extensive acquaintance with the subject and fine powers of generalisation. Besides his active work in the local branch of the Philosophical Society and other institutions of a scientific character, Mr Travers was also for many years a member of the Board of Governors of the New Zealand Philosophical Institute, and he presided at ita last meeting on the 2nd of the present month. He received from the French Government the Grand Cross of the Order of Cambodia for service* rendered to that Government. For some time he was Vice-consul for France. Mr Travers was married twice. His first wife died in Wellington about 10 years ago, leaving him a son (Mr H. H. Travers) and a daughter (Mrs Coleridge). His second wife, daughter of Captain Barclay, of Wellington, survives him.

A TRIBUTE.

The brief scene enacted in the Supreme Court this morning in connection wth his death was a most touching one. The court was crowded, and nearly every member of the Bar who could attend was there in wig and gown. Mr H. D. Bell, to whose lot, as president of the Law Society, it fell to voice the feelings of the profession in regard to the death of their colleague, was so affected that his utterances occasionally could barely be heard. Mr Bell paid a high tribute to his virtues. He said, as they all knew, he sustained an even and most impartial mind in the most stirring of events, and had borne his share of managing the affairs of the colony outside the profe3bion of the law. He was, if ever a man was in this colony, honoured, respected, and loved. He was the last of the members who sat in the first Parliament of Now Zealand, the last of the men who helped to found our Constitution and system. Although he held only for a short time the office of Attorney-general, yet he was offered and refused the permanent and contimied position of that office on the resignation of the late Chief Justice on his elevation to the bench. A man who had throughout ltis career left an example to the profession, an honoxirable and upright lawyer, who c c only defect as an advocate- was his extreme fairness, his was not only a brilliant career, but an honourable one — honourable to him and honourable to the members of the profession, — and a real example to those who had now only to honour -his memory. Mr Skerratt, president of the Wellington District Law Society, paid an oqually touching tribute to tho memory of I\lr Travers. The wholo of the members of the Bar present remained standing whpe these addresses were being made. The Chief Justice (Sir Robert Stout), also ri"inp from his seat on the bench, then proceeded to refer to the distinguished career of the deceased. In concluding, he said : " The other members of the bench as well 83 myself exceedingly regret the decease of Mr Travers, and feel that we have lost one who was ever an aid to us in the performance and administration of justice. " On the Chief Justice resuming his seat there was a few moments of silenoe, after which th© members of the Bar filed out of the court, and a Grand Jury was empanelled to deal with the criminal cases before th« court. In the Supreme Court, Bitting in civil jurisdiction, Mr Justice Edwards also referred to the sad event, and referenc* wa^ also made to it in the Magistrate's Court.

At the inqups-t this afternoon the jury returned a verdict of "Accidental death."

William Thomas Locke Travers, F.L.S., son of Captain Boyle Travers. of the Rifle Brigade, by his marriage with Miss Caroline Brockman, of Beachborough, in Kent, was born at Castleview, near Newcastle, County Limerick, on January 9, 1819. He was lieutenant in the 2nd Lancers, 8.A.L.9., from 1836 to 1838, and servad in Spain tkirinpf those years, part of the time as aide-de-camp to General Espartero, afterwards Duke de Victoria. Mr Travers was married at Cork, Ireland, on October 22, 1843, to Miss Jane Oldham, and arrived in New Zealand on October 20, 1849. He lias at various times represented the Waimea. district in Nelson and the citie3 of Christchurch and Wellington in the New Zealand House of Representatives, and was Attorneygeneral of the colony in the first inohoate Ministry, from the end of August to the beginning of September, 1854. Sir Travers, who was District Judge in Nelson from 1859 to 1860, was married a second time, on April 9, 1891, at Wellington. New Zealan.4 to Mu=? Theodoai* Lmlm fivstar.

daughter of Captain W. de It. Barclay, o that city. He is F L.S. and Grand Officier l'Ordre Royal dv Cambode. Mr Travere, after resigning th© judgeship, removed from, Nelson, where he was on one occasion an unsuccessful candidate for the Superintendency of the province, and Eettled in Canterbury, where in 1866 he sought election as Provincial Superintendent, but wus defeated by the late Mr W. Sefton Moorhouse. Of recent years Mr Travcrs has not takers any very active part in the business of his firm. He was an ardent botanist, and took much interest in amateur photography. Ha was a ready writor, and an addition to papers on scientific subjects he published an account of his trip " From New Zealand to Lake Michigan." He was of a genial disposition, and highly respected by all who had the privilege of his acquaintance.

MR JUSTICE WILLIAMS'S TRIBUTE

OF RESPECT

Upon taking his seat on the bench in the Supreme Court yesterday morning, Mr Justice Williams said: Before proceeding with the business of the court I should like to pay a tribute of respect to the memory of the oldest member of the bar in New Zealand. Mr Travers unfortunately met with an accident on Saturday. Since then I regret to say that he haa succumbed. (The me-mbers of the bar present here rose to their feet and remained! standing ) Mr Travers was. as I have said, the oldest membsr of the bar in New Zenland. He has been associated with the history of the colony from the time thati it was gi anted a constitution. H© was a! member of th« firet Parliament of New Zealand in 1854-, and he was also as early as 185+ a member of the Ministry, and amongsb his colleagues was the late Mr Macandrew. Mr Travcrß had attained a great age — 84years, — and yet he was as bright and as intellectually vigorous as a youth. His last appearance in court was on Saturday last, and on that occasion, with great dignity and vigour, he defended the honour of the court with which he had so long been associated — a fitting crown to a long and useful career.

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