COSTLEY HOME FOR THE AGED POOR.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 467, 30 April 1890, Page 3

COSTLEY HOME FOR THE AGED POOR.

OPENING THIS AFTERNOON. SPEECH BY LORD ONSLOW. Auckland, April 23. The Costley Home for the Aged Poor, erected by Mr J. J. Holland, under the auspices of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board as trustees of this portion of the . munificent bequest made to the public institutions of Auckland by the late Mr Edward Costley, was formally opened this afternoon by His Excellency the Governor, the Earl of Onslow. The Costley Home is situated near the foot of One Tree Hill, Epsom, cn a seven - acre section, which has been ploughed up, laid down in grass and planted with ornamental trees, excepting a portion which has been reserved for a vegetable garden in connection with the institution. As the home has already been fully described in our columns, it. will be necessary to recapitulate only in very general terms. The building is of two storeys, and is built of brick, occupying a ground space of 120fb by 50ft. The centre portion projects beyond the side wings and has a handsome portico with Corinthian columns on either side. It is surmounted with a heavy cornice and ornamental balustrading, and in the gable is a panel of Oamaru stone with the inscription, “ Costley’s Home for Aged Poor.” The main building is admirably divided and the outbuildings seem to comprise all that is necessary to a most complete institution. The work has been faithfully executed, the woodwork under the supervision of Mr E. A. Matthews, the painting by Mr John Henderson, the plastering by Mr John Hynes, and the slating by Mr Blaikie. The contract price was £7,300. Mr E. Bartley, architect, prepared the plans, and Mr S. Clark acted as clerk of works. There was a good attendance at the opening ceremony this afternoon, including the Chairman (Mr C. Atkin) and members of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board. The Home was formally declared to be open by His Excellency the Governor. Lord Onslow Baid :—Ladies and gentlemen. Twelve months ago I had the pleasure of laying the foundation stone of this Home, and the fact that I am able to perform the concluding as well as the initiatory ceremony of so important an undertaking leads pie to think thab I am already approaching the time when I consider Auckland and Aucklanders as old friends. I hope we shall nob let this day pass without placing on record our admiration of the munificent generosity of Edward Costley, nob only for the philanthropic nature of his gift, bub for the splendid example which he ha 3 set to other citizens of New Zealand. Ido not mean to say that many others have nob testified to the philanthropy of Edward Costley, but I think ib is right that on an occasion ol this kind Her Majesty’s representative, and the social head of the colony should give expression to what I believe to be the generally felt opinion of the city, that our respect and admiration for his deeds cannot be too strongly proclaimed. When the Costley bequest first became known, the impression conveyed to the mind was rather that a lucky accident

had prompted him so to dispose of his greab wealth as to give substantial relief to the ratepayers of the city ; but gradually the feeling spread—first that the bequest should be expended as far as possible to supplement rather than to supplant the assistance afi'orded to the poor from public sources, and, secondly, when it became known that it was no sudden thought, but a fixed and long entertained intention which induced Edward Costley to leave his fortune as a heritage to the old and feeble, people began to seo that there had been a set purpose before the man so often dubbed as an old miser, and that, while needing little for his own comfort her©, he had resolved that nob less than that little should be placed within the reach of the poor and helpless of Auckland for all time. I confess that I agree with a writer to the morning paper a few days ago, and that, as a stranger, I am struck by the absence of any prominent memorial to the noble acts of Edward Costley. It is true that everyone entering the Public Library (and no one visiting your city is likely to fail to enter and admire that remarkably interesting and valuable collection) will see a tablet recording the services of Edward Costley to the Library, and it is equally true that this Home, the Nurses’ Home, and the new school in connection with Kohimarama will be silent monuments bo his deeds. Bub one cannot help feeling that such an action as his ought to bo brought prominently before every citizen as he goes to and from his place of business, and be an example to every child as he passes to and from his morning’s school some memorial which 1 shall say to every man, “Go thou and do likewise.” In a young country like this, such deeds of generosity, from the nature ; of things, cannot be expected to be as • plentiful as in an older country where wealth has for generations been 5 accumulating. Large fortunes have un- > ’ doubtedly been made here, and 1 3 fear in some instances, lost here too, ' but there are many men throughout c the colony who came to it poor men 3 and who are now wealthy. To some of 1 these it may be a matter of concern how s they shall dispose of their wealth. It I is not likely that in a democratic country a suchasthis, wherehereditary titles are never o likely to find a footing, any man will seek tc y found a family by leaving all his possessions to one man, but there are some who look for

ward to taking away the wealth they have drawn from the fertility of New Zealand s ©oil to spend ib in London or amid the high civilisation of European capitals, or whe hope to attain to some degree of eminence or fame in the Old Country; bub, believe me, among the hundreds __ who are trampling on each other’s heads in the crush to attain to fame in England, few, very few, reach the goal. Some mistake the side paths which lead to notoriety rather than fame, and notoriety often of an unenviable nature, but the great majority fail in all except spending their money. Then the page of "history is a long one, and there is room for only a few exceptionally illustrious names to be recorded on it to day. Here, all is voung, all is new, and the man who rcndois signal service to his fellow-countrymen, will find his name inscribed in the early chapters ot the history of a country which is likely to have a fucuie nob less glorious than the great mother country from which we are all sprung. It is to stimulate this feeling that one would be glad to see some public indication of the appreciation which I know is felt by citizens of Auckland for a bequest which, in its magnitude, would not be unworthy of London’s wealthiest citizens, and which may remind us • •« Wo.can mako our lives sublime, And. departing, leave behind us Footprints on the sands o£ time. And, lastly, let me congratulate you on the sito which you have chosen for this Home.. In some respects perhaps the site of the existing home is more convenient for the visits of the members of the Charitable Aid Board, but from what I know of them I do not think they are very likely to consult their own convenience. Certainly no more beautiful view is possessed by any publicinstibution in Auckland, probably not in New Zealand, but the constant propinquity of invalids from the Hospital cannot but have a depressing effect on those who are suffering from no disease but that which we cannot escape—old age, and it is well that in the evening of life men should be able te enjoy the ourc air of the country, and, withoubbeing outof reach of theirfriends in town, be removed from the immediate surroundings of town life and the atmosphere of a town. I cannot conclude without a word of gratitude to the members of the Charitable Aid Board who have _so energetically undertaken the administration of this part of the Costley bequest, and specially to tho Chairman, whom I am glad to find still occupying the same position which he did last year. Ib is a characteristic of the British race, and perhaps the one to which we mainly owe our glorious Empire, thab wherever the best men in the community freely give their time to tho work of self-government and the administration of public funds, there is a feeling in the heart of nearly every Englishman that he should try and leave the world or some parb of ib, a little better, a little brighter, and a little happier than when ho came to it, and it is to thab work of building-up that we owe most of the advantages which we enjoy over the other nations of the earth.