Mr. Arthur Standish, who was the first Mayor of New Plymouth, is a native of Yorkshire, England, and arrived in New Zealand with his parents when very young. He studied law with Messrs Merriman and Jackson, barristers and solicitors, in Auckland, and was subsequently admitted to the bar of the Supreme Court. Mr. Standish served as one of the early volunteers under Major Lloyd. Shortly after the breaking out of the war, he received a commission in the New Zealand Militia, and continued in active service until the conclusion of the Maori troubles in the Taranaki district. He then retired with the rank of captain, and received the New Zealand medal. In 1861, Mr. Standish commenced to practise as a barrister and solicitor in New Plymouth. He was appointed Crown Solicitor in 1863, and was one of the first to receive that appointment. As a member of the old Provincial Council, and as a member of the Provincial Government. Mr. Standish, with his colleagues, the Hon. Thomas Kelly and the late Sir Harry Atkinson, was instrumental in passing many measures for the benefit of the district. He was one of the first members of the New Plymouth Harbour Board, and did not retire until its prosperity seemed assured. Mr. Standish has been a member of the Taranaki Education Board and Land Board for over twenty years, and during his mayoralty obtained from the Government a grant of two thousand acres of land at Stratford as an endowment for the Borough Council. He has been an ardent sportsman, and has successfully ridden his own horses at many races. Mr. Standish resides at “Witiora,” in the suburbs, and is deservedly held in high esteem by the community, a proof of which is that he has never been beaten at any election. He married a daughter of the late Rev. Henry Handley Brown, of “Welbourne,” Taranaki, and sister of Mr. Henry Brown, sometime a member of the House of Representatives, and now (1906) in business as a sawmiller at Inglewood.