OVER THE CENTURY.

Auckland Star, Volume LVII, Issue 276, 20 November 1926, Page 11

OVER THE CENTURY.

MB. WILLIAM BEEVES. DIED THIS MORNING. An old resident of this city, Mr. William Reeves, died to-day at Knox Home, Tamaki, at the great age of 101 years. He was perhaps the only instance in which a man at the age of 99 years had his leg amputated successfully. This was the result of being knocked down by a motor car some years previously. He was awarded damages at the time, and the Court then referred to his good age as a reason for not making the amount larger. When well on to the century, Mr. Reeves could chat about the early days and thoroughly enjoyed his pipe. He remarked to a friend shortly before he passed the 100 th milestone, that all he wanted was another leg so that he could get round the garden. He was a gardener by profession, and was born at Maidstone, Kent, England. Later he was sent to London and helped to lay out the gardens at Crystal Palace under Sir Joseph Paxton, in the days of the Prince Consort. Mr. Reeves came to New Zealand in the ship India over half a century ago, and was in the-employ of the late Mr. Robert Graham for the purpose of laying out the Ellerslie garden, now part of the racecourse. For the same employer he also helped to. lay out the grounds at Waiwera Hotel. In the course of a chat with a representative of the "Auckland Star" not a couple of years ago, Mr. Reeves said; "The great thing is to always be happy. lam always happy. Some, of my people come to see mc every Sunday and often on Wednesdays. The doctor at the hospital told mc I was the oldest patient he had operated on when he cut off--my leg;" Mr. Reeves took a keen interest in the fact that the railway was being formed round Tamaki, and remarked: "When I came to Auckland just after the Maori war it was not much of a place and times were so hard I would have been glad to have got away again, but I have remained here ever since." Mr. Beeves was admitted to the Knox Home in 1924, and was very popular with the other inmates.