Basil Arthur
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The Honourable Sir Basil Arthur |
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| 20th Speaker of the House of Representatives | |
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In office 1984–1985 |
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| Prime Minister | David Lange |
| Preceded by | Richard Harrison |
| Succeeded by | Gerard Wall |
| Member of the New Zealand Parliament for Timaru |
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In office 1962–1985 |
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| Preceded by | Clyde Carr |
| Succeeded by | Maurice McTigue |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 18 September 1928 Timaru, New Zealand |
| Died | 1 May 1985 (aged 56) |
| Nationality | New Zealand |
| Political party | Labour |
Sir Basil Malcolm Arthur, 5th Baronet (18 September 1928 – 1 May 1985) served as Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives from 1984 to 1985. He was a member of the Labour Party.
Arthur was born in Timaru, New Zealand. His father, a hotel proprietor, inherited the title of 4th Baronet in 1941, and Arthur in turn inherited it on his father's death in 1949. However, he showed a preference for labouring jobs, and made little of his title.
In 1960 Arthur stood for Labour in the Hamilton electorate, coming second.
In the 1962 by-election, he was elected to Parliament as the Labour MP for Timaru. On entering Parliament at age 33 he was the country's youngest MP. He was reluctant to be called "Sir", but the Speaker at the time said that refusing this honorific would be disrespectful to the Queen.
Arthur was Minister of Transport and Minister in Charge of the State Insurance Office from 1972 until 1975.
When Labour won the 1984 election, Arthur became Speaker of the New Zealand House of Representatives. He served in that capacity for one year, before dying in office after a short illness. The then Prime Minister, David Lange recalled in My Life (2005) that Arthur 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."
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