A NOTABLE BEQUEST.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 942, 8 October 1910, Page 10

A NOTABLE BEQUEST.

;' Sir,—A. few. days .ago, yon, published a l-cablegram .'from England, which- stated■ 'that nnder the terms of the .will of the late Mr.' Robert Arthington, the-Baptist Missionary Society of London and the. London Missionary ; Society (Congregational) would . benefit by sums of over .£1,000,000,(four million pounds), "and:over respectively; As I 'is not unusual in the telegrams he sends . to. New, Zealand,,the autocrat who controls the' 'news' doled out to us from London has made ;an error. ■ When Mr. Robert Arthingtbn, the'son ofa-Quaker brewer,-who lived' at' Leeds, '■ and . had for, years 'lived' the life of a recluse, died at Teignmouth,' in .Devonshirei, some. ten . years ago, Vhis estate was estimated to bo worth between four: and-five hundred thousand, -which, with.accrued interest, would now amourit to about six or seven hundred.thousand. .The sum of about five million.pounds, ' as"!referred to in'tho'cable message, is assuredly-a' mistake,' and the actual value of.'.th'e' bequest '.'to the' Baptist Missionary Society is in. all likelihood some'' four hundrcd.>;thousand - pounds, and not .the enormous sum of four millions ■ given in the cabled-report,. - . ~'■;,, '.-. Your, leaderette referring to -'the -bequest" ', deservedly commends the past work of tho Baptist Missionary Society. But. one important .fact in connection with tho'Arthington bequest ought to be known. If was given to the" society for, the ■ opening up and extension of the work-'of the society,; and not as a contribution to its general funds, nor ■to help'/in sustaining work already undertaken. This should bo stated, -in fairness, to the society,-as the fact of such a largo bequest, "especially if its value is. multiplied .tenfold, being given to' a" missionary... society, always gives "the enemy occasion to blaspheme." •:That, the. son ;of a brewer should givo largely to a missionary, society is—well, : not usual, though the case of ■ Mr. Char--rington shows that itisnot unique, happily, in.England,'brewers are vory often as. charitable as they are wealthy". ; Tho giving to charity, especially by bequests m. wills, is a habit there. Unfortunately it is not so in New Zealand. In Wellington it is the rare exception for a wealthy person; to' give, a,-large; sum, to a pious or charitable purpose. With 'a .-few conspicuous exceptions, large gifts to . tho Children's Hospital Fund -by' wealthy people were as conspicuously absent.— I ara.etc.', '. •" ' B.Q.C.