Joshua George Arthur (27 January 1906 – 20 May 1974) was an Australian schoolteacher and politician who represented the

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and Kahibah districts for the Labor Party.

Early life

Born to Joshua Arthur, a blacksmith, and Ethel May Embleton in Adamstown, New South Wales. He was educated at Adamstown Public School, Newcastle High School and

Sydney Teachers College The Sydney Teachers College was a tertiary education institution that trained school teachers in Sydney, Australia. It existed from 1906 until the end of 1981, when it became the Sydney Institute of Education, a part of the new Sydney College o ...

, graduating in 1924. He taught for the

New South Wales Department of Education The New South Wales Department of Education, a government department, department of the Government of New South Wales, is responsible for the delivery and co-ordination of early childhood education, early childhood, Primary education, primary sch ...

from 1925 until 1935, in the Wellington, Sydney and Newcastle districts. He served in the second Australian Imperial Forces. Enlisted in 1940, served in North Africa and on the staff of the Minister for the Army,

Frank Forde Francis Michael Forde (18 July 189028 January 1983) was an Australian politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Australia from 6 to 13 July 1945, in a caretaker capacity following the death of John Curtin. He was deputy leader of th ...

, from 1943 until 1945.

Political career

Arthur was the member for

, winning the seat at the 1935, 1938, 1941, 1944 and 1947 State elections. Arthur transferred to the new seat of Kahibah at the 1950 State election. He was Minister for Tourist Activities and Immigration in the

Second McGirr ministry The second (symbol: s) is a unit of time derived from the division of the day first into 24 hours, then to 60 minutes, and finally to 60 seconds each (24 × 60 × 60 = 86400). The current and formal definition in the International System of Un ...

from 21 September 1949 until 30 June 1950 and

Secretary for Mines The position of Secretary for Mines was an office in the United Kingdom Government, associated with the Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for ...

and Minister for Immigration from 30 June 1950 until 23 February 1953 in the

Third McGirr ministry Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (dis ...

and

First Cahill ministry First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

. On 9 February 1953,

William Wentworth William Charles Wentworth (August 179020 March 1872) was an Australian statesman, pastoralist, explorer, newspaper editor, lawyer, politician and author, who became one of the wealthiest and most powerful figures in colonial New South Wales. He ...

, a NSW member of federal parliament, aired allegations concerning Arthur's associations with Reginald Doyle, a Newcastle-based conman who was wanted on fraud charges. Arthur voluntarily stood down as a minister while declaring he would fight to clear his name, and the state government set up a Royal Commission into the allegations, to be conducted by Judge George Amsberg of the

District Court District courts are a category of courts which exists in several nations, some call them "small case court" usually as the lowest level of the hierarchy. These courts generally work under a higher court which exercises control over the lower co ...

. Amsberg's report, handed down in August after several months of hearings, found that Arthur had acted improperly but not corruptly in his dealings with Doyle. The report concluded:

Mr Arthur knew very early in 1952, that Mr Doyle had bought a vehicle from Constructions services Ltd., through the Australian Guarantee Corporation on hire purchase, and that he was quite unable to pay his gambling debts. By reason of these matters, the veneer of wealth and respectability assumed by Mr Doyle must have worn thin almost if not entirely, to vanishing point, and Mr Arthur must have realised this, and it must have been driven home to Mr Arthur’s mind that Mr Doyle was a completely worthless individual, void of rectitude and undeserving of any kind of trust or confidence which might be reposed in him. Mr Arthur’s subsequent acts of commission and of omission in this regard ….. I find, pass the bounds of mere indiscretion, unwisdom or foolishness, and were discreditable or seriously reprehensible in a person occupying the position of a Minister of the Crown, and constituted a substantial breach of the recognised standards of right dealing to be expected of a Minister of the Crown.

In the immediate wake of the Royal Commission's findings, Arthur announced on 20 August that he would resign as member for Kahibah, but would contest the resulting by-election. The matter of his continued membership of the Labor was initially undecided, but when it became clear that the state executive would not support him, Arthur announced that he would resign from the party and not contest the by-election. This was insufficient for the executive, who rejected his resignation and formally expelled him from the party on 22 August.

Death

Arthur died on . He was buried at

Northern Suburbs Crematorium The Northern Suburbs Crematorium, officially Northern Suburbs Memorial Gardens and Crematorium, is a crematorium in North Ryde, New South Wales, a suburb of Sydney, Australia. It was officially opened on 28 October 1933, and the first cremation t ...

following a service at

St Stephen's Uniting Church St Stephen's Uniting Church is a congregation of the Uniting Church located at 197 Macquarie Street, in the Sydney central business district, in the City of Sydney local government area of New South Wales, Australia. It is part of the Sydney P ...

, Macquarie Street.

References

, - , - , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Arthur, Joshua 1906 births 1974 deaths Australian schoolteachers Australian Labor Party members of the Parliament of New South Wales Members of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 20th-century Australian politicians Australian Army personnel of World War II Australian Army officers