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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]

The Hon. Walter Woods Johnston

page 81

The Hon. Walter Woods Johnston was Postmaster-General and Commissioner of Telegraphs in the Hall Ministry from the 9th of March, 1881, to the 21st of April, 1882; Minister for Public Works, Postmaster-General, and Commissioner of Telegraphs in the Whitaker Government from the latter date to the 11th of October, 1882; Minister for Public Works in the Atkinson Administration from the 25th of September, 1883, to the 23rd of November, 1883, and a member of the Executive Council in the same from its formation till the 4th of June, 1881. The subject of this notice is the eldest son of the late Hon. John Johnston, M.L.C., who is referred to elsewhere as a late minister of the Crown. Born in London in 1839, Mr. Walter Johnston came out to the Colony The Hon. Walter Woods Johnston with his parents about the year 1841, per ship “Prince of Wales.” He was educated partly in the Colony and partly in France, at L'Ecole Centrale. Brought up to mercantile life in his father's firm, Messrs. Johnston and Co., merchants, of which he and his brother, the Hon. C. J. Johnston, M.L.C., are the present members, he has long been closely associated with the trade of the Empire City. Mr. Johnston entered political life in 1871, as member for the Manawatu electorate, which he represented continuously till 1884, after which he did not seek re-election. Since retiring from polities, the honourable gentleman has taken several trips to England. He has been prominent on the directorate of public corporations, for some time acting as a director of the Equitable Assurance Society of the United States, but resigned on his leaving for England some years ago. When the head office of the Bank of New Zealand was removed from London to Wellington, Mr. Johnston was elected a director of that large Colonial Institution, which office he still holds. In 1868 he was married to Miss Goring, daughter of Mr. Foster Goring, who was for several years clerk to the Executive Council. His family numbers seven, of whom four are daughters, the eldest being married to Mr. Percy Baldwin, solicitor, of Wellington. For further particulars of the honourable gentleman's career see “Bank of New Zealand” and “Wellington Merchants.”