The Hon. Richard Oliver, M.L.C., was a member, of three successive ministries. In the Hall Government he held the portfolio of Public Works from the 8th of October, 1879, to the 31st of May, 1881, and became a member of the Executive Council on the 18th of October of that year. This latter position he held in the Whitaker administration, which succeeded, and during the continuance of the Atkinson ministry he was Postmaster-General and Electric Telegraph Commissioner. The honourable gentleman, who is a son of Mr. Robert Oliver, of Penzance, Cornwall, England, and Ellen (Fox) his wife, was born on the 21st of February, 1830. Having decided to make New Zealand his home, Mr. Oliver settled in Otago, where he was elected to a seat in the House of Representatives. He was called to the Legislative Council on the 10th of November, 1881. Mr. Oliver was married, first at Penzance, to Miss Ellen, daughter of Mr. William Purchase, on the 18th of June, 1858, and secondly at the same place to Miss Louise d'Este, daughter of Mr. J. S. Courtenay, of Albert House, and sister of the Right Hon. Leonard H. Courtenay, Chairman of Committees of the House of Commons.