AN APPRECIATION.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 63, 14 March 1908, Page 9

AN APPRECIATION.

r ♦ THE LATE MR. C. W. BENBOW. "Purere" sends the following contribution in memory of one of Wellington's worthiest citizens :—: — His was one of a most kindly disposition, meet him where or when you would the hearty greeting was sure to como as tho night follows day. The little children in the streets were sure of a /word and smile when his well known form camo in sight, none were too poorly clad to be noticed by the gentleman and scholar. 'His was a heart that went out to those in distress, and not even those who knew him best will know of the many kind acts his life was made up of ; it was part of his nature to bo kind, and how well the part was played, many in this city know. But not by his own telling— tljere was not orte atom of boasting in the body of the big man whom so many will miss. ' He was a scholar, and how he loved his books! Perhaps no man in the city was more sought after for information, he being so well informed on almost any subject. His books, of which he had made a life-long collection, were used to some purpose ; to him to read was to remember, and his library is one of tho best collection of privately-owned books in the Dominion. Cricket was his favourite outdoor game, and many will remember when he himself played. As in all other sport, his whole heart was centred on the game he was playing, and many wickets fell to his bowling in the days long left behind. He was a constant visitor to the Basin Reserve, and supporter of the game he loved to follow. Not only was he well informed as to the doings of local cricket; he kept himself well posted in the cricket news in the Homeland, and could tell one in a very short space of time how any cricketer of any, note stood in the season's average ; many a time has the* writer of these lines sat and had the information given by the grand old man who has departed. His f amo *as a chess-player is known far and near ; ho was a front ranker in all departments of the game. What a storehouse of problems and solutions his library contains, and what a valuable book they would make if it were possible to put them in book form! Many chess players in this and other lands have from time to time received great kindness and help from tho one who , was such a lover and master of the gome, and now that he has solved the last problem they will miss the information he was ever so willing to bestow. He will bo missed by those who came in business contact with him. His word was his bond, and no man could say otherwise of him. Most of all, his many friends will miss him ; but in the home where he was the loving father his namo will be ever sacred.