in his electorate, and a great believer in the importance of education. Lawson won the seat of Murray for the Country Party on 12 June 1932. His maiden speech, in September, 1932, was on the Farmer's Relief Bill, and the Sydney Morning Herald wrote "One of the most interesting [speeches] was made by Mr. Lawson, a Riverina farmer. The House listened with intense interest to this man from the land as he related from personal knowledge and with much feeling, the plight of the farmers". In 1967, he lost the Country Party pre-selection in questionable circumstances, but ran as an Independent, winning the seat at the 1968 and 1971 elections. Joe Lawson was always a strong supporter of the farmers in his electorate. In one incident in the 1950s, he personally investigated farmer's concerns about citrus fruit being declared 'dry' at the Sydney Markets. He discovered a racket where some Government fruit inspectors would declare a shipment of oranges to be dry (without juice), which led to them being sold at a greatly reduced price to associates of the inspectors in the retail trade, who could sell them at regular retail prices. The inspectors received a percentage of the profits. Joe Lawson revealed this racket in the Parliament, producing supposedly 'dry' fruit he had bought, and detailing the circumstances of the racket, thus forcing the Government to take rapid action and re-organize the markets. Joe Lawson held the seat of Murray continuously until his death in 1973. He was succeeded in the seat by his daughter, Mary Meillon. He had had a minor heart attack and was admitted to hospital three days later, but died of a second massive heart attack as he was being taken into the ward. He had just finished giving some instructions to his parliamentary amanuensis. He died in the Sydney suburb of North Sydney, New South Wales. His wife, Mary, had died suddenly in 1970. Joe Lawson was survived by his five children and thirteen grandchildren. Joe Lawson was the longest continuously serving member of the New South Wales Legislative Assembly, and one of the longest continuously serving parliamentarians in the world (41 years). He won the seat of Murray at 14 consecutive elections. When he entered parliament at the age of 38, he was the youngest MLA. At his death he was the oldest, the "Father of the House" at 80 years of age.