21 Facts About Basil Arthur

Basil Arthur returned to New Zealand and found work as a hotel manager and on 5 January 1950 he married Elizabeth Rita Wells in Auckland.

Basil Arthur had a preference for hard, physical activity and disliked clerical work.

Whilst working in a sawmill, Basil Arthur became secretary of the Waikato section of the New Zealand Workers' Union.

Basil Arthur was president of the Mangakino branch of the Labour Party and vice-president of the Rotorua Labour Representation Committee.

In 1957 Basil Arthur decided to stand for parliament himself and unsuccessfully contested the Labour nomination for the Waitomo electorate, losing to Vic Haines the Mayor of Te Kuiti.

In 1960 Basil Arthur won nomination to stand for Labour in the Hamilton electorate, coming second.

Basil Arthur was reluctant to be called "Sir", but the Speaker at the time, Ronald Algie, said that refusing this honorific would be disrespectful to the Queen.

Basil Arthur was both Minister of Transport and Minister in Charge of the State Insurance Office from 1972 until 1975 during the Third Labour Government.

Basil Arthur was additionally given the Forestry portfolio in 1982.

Basil Arthur made a positive impression on colleagues and opponents leading the criticism of the controversial National Development Act and proposed reforms of national parks administration.

In contrast to Rowling, Arthur had a forceful presence in parliament and commanding voice.

When David Lange replaced Rowling as leader in 1983 Basil Arthur was dropped from the front bench and lost the Agriculture and Forestry portfolios.

Basil Arthur retained Fisheries and was made Shadow Minister for Lands and Rural Banking.

When Labour won the 1984 election Basil Arthur, despite being one of only a few Labour MPs with prior cabinet experience, was passed over for a seat in the cabinet.

Basil Arthur served in that capacity for one year, before dying in office of Legionnaires' disease.

The then Prime Minister, David Lange recalled in My Life that Basil Arthur was gravely ill in Wellington Hospital, and if he resigned from the member's superannuation scheme before he died his estate would get a lump-sum payment.

Basil Arthur 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".

Basil Arthur was the second baronet to serve as Speaker, the first being Sir Charles Clifford, 1st Baronet, although he was made a baronet some time after he had retired from politics.

In 1977, Basil Arthur was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Silver Jubilee Medal.

Basil Arthur remarried to Sandra Colleen Kennett on 1 July 1983 at a small ceremony in Wellington.

Basil Arthur embarrassingly dropped the ring during the ceremony where his daughter-in-law Carolyn was the bridesmaid and Labour MP Bob Tizard was the best man.