OBITUARY

MR. A. T. BATE,

Sincere regret is expressed in business circles 'at the death of Mr. A. T. Bate, of the firm of Bate and Finch, estate agents and sharebrokers, which took place on Saturday. The late Mr. Bate, who h»d been in ill-health for two or three years, came to New Zealand from England many years ago, and was private secretary to the Honi Sir Edwin Mitchelson when thelastnamed wag a Minister of the Crown. Subsequently entering into business on his own account, Mr. Bate becamo one of 'the best known and respected sharebrokers in Wellington. The growth of cricket and Rugby football in Wellington was materially assisted by deceased gentleman, who was at one time secretary to the Wellington Rugby Football Union and the Wellington Cricket Association; also to the Wellington Cricket and .Football Clubs. He had also occupied a seat on the New Zealand Rugby Union. Mr. Bate wa» the first secretary to the Athletic Park Company. As an enthusiastic philatelist, Mr. Bate possessed one of the best collections of at&mpe in Australasia.^The deceased was unmarried. When the' Wellington Stock Exchange assembled this morning, the chairman (Mr. R. Wynn Kirkby), speaking -with deep feeling, referred to the death of Mr. Bate, and moved that th© meeting be adjourned until this afternoon. Mr. Kirkby spoke of Mr. Bate's Jon;r connection with the Exchange, of which he had been a member almost from its inception. He referred particularly to the seven years onward from November. 1909 "Suring which period Mr. Bate was ohairman of the Exohange. His uprightness, capacity, and kindliness of nature, won for him the respect and esteem not only of all the members but also of a very wide circle of other business and private friends. In adjourning, the Exchange parsed a resolution expressive of its sense of the loss it had sustained, and also of the fine example Mr. Bate had set to the sharebroking profession. . ' '