AUCKLAND RESIDENT’S GIFT OF £1,000,000

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 408, 17 July 1928, Page 16

AUCKLAND RESIDENT’S GIFT OF £1,000,000

NAVAL SCHOOL ENDOWED MR. READE’S GENEROSITY A resident of Auckland, Mr. Gifford Sherman Reade, has given an immense sum of money, and his ancestral estate in Suffolk, to allcw the Admiralty to build a naval school costing £1,0000,000. A keen fisherman, Mr. Reade and his wife came here 13 years ago, primarily to catch big-game fish. He found the climate suited him, and he has remained in the Dominion ever since, making Auckland his home, and travelling in both islands. He is S 3 years of age, and he has no family. Thirty-five years of his life were spent in India, where he was interested in tea, jute, and coal. He had extensive tea estates in Assam, and amassed a large fortune. After retiring 25 years ago, he travelled extensively, spending his winters on the Mediterranean coasts. The naval school will, on its completion in four years, supersede the Royal Hospital, Greenwich, where 1,000 boys are educated. The Reade ancestral estate, of 850 acres, lies on the southern boundary of Suffolk, overlooking the estuary of the River Stour. During the war Mr. Reade gave over his manor to the Government to use, and he made many hug© donations to the Allied cause. STRAIGHT-OUT GIFT He has made a straight-out gift of the estate to the Admiralty, and he has further endowed it with a very large sum, which has justified the erection of the college at a cost of £1,000,000. The funds comprising the endowment are heavy interest-bearing Indian securities, which will be administered as a national trust fund,, and allowed to accumulate for either 11 or 21 years. Should the funds accumulate for the longer period, a sum greater than £1,00,000 will be available. The school will probably accommodate 1,600 boys, and the farm lands should make it self-supporting. The Royal Hospital is a charitable institution dating back to the days of Queen Anne, at which selected boys of good parentage, physique, and intelligence are trained for the Royal Navy.