Ed Bate

Sir Walter Edwin Bate (12 March 1901 – 12 September 1999) was a New Zealand politician. He served as mayor of Hastings from 1953 to 1959.

Early life and family Born in Greenmeadows on 12 March 1901, Bate was the son of Peter Bate and Florence Eleanor Bate (née Broadley). and went on to study law at Victoria University College, graduating LLM with first-class honours in 1923.

In 1925, Bate married Annie Louise Jordan, and the couple went on to have three children.

Legal career Bate worked as a barrister, solicitor and notary public, first in Taumarunui from 1923 to 1926, and then in Hastings until retiring in 1980. He had been predeceased by his wife, Louise, in 1988. In the 1955 Queen's Birthday Honours, he was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, for services to local government. In 1960, he was made an Officer of the Order of St John. Bate was appointed a Knight Bachelor, for services to local government and the community, in the 1969 New Year Honours.