DEATH OF A PHILANTHROPIST.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVII, Issue 3023, 28 November 1891, Page 1 (Supplement)

DEATH OF A PHILANTHROPIST.

Is days to come when the actual importance of circumstances can he more correctly measured than at the moment of their occurrence the death of I)r John Singleton will be reckoned aa one of the principal events of the year. For the Doctor was emphatically the poor man's friend and the poor of Melbourne are a very numerous body and one that is difficult to deal with. In some respects he was their only friend for he was the one man who realised that you must feed the hungry, cure the sick, shelter the outcast and comfort the aHlicted without asking a million questions to prove that the recipients of your bounty do not, deserve it. He was nearly eighty-four years of age having been bom on January '2nd ISOH and lie had for forty years been known in Australia as a practical philanthropist. Eveiybody knew that good white head ever busy with work for the destitute, everybody knew that kind old face that never turned a harsh look upon ilistrt'rts. To be poor or sick or in deep trouble w.n th» sure o tßsport to that noble gentle heart. Ho hud a free medical dispensary which ided during the last twenty years about a | arter of a million cases. He had a night rat ge fur women and children, a ho ne for fal en worn n, another for aged widows, an( ] a number of miscellaneous charities all intensely practical and very useful, .. 1 staited with his own money and all maintained with hia own contributions and those he could obtain from his friends. He died on October Ist, and wai buried on Octob r 3.it, amid the deep st aud sineerest exp ess ons of regret.