POVERTY TO SUCCESS

Evening Post, Issue 29, 4 February 1935, Page 11

POVERTY TO SUCCESS

INTERESTING VISITOfi

CRUISE AROUND ISLANDS

A "young-old" man, philanthropist, and traveller, describes, though somewhat incompletely, Dr. N.T.. Coulson, of San Francisco, a retired dentist, who arrived by the Makura today and [is on his way to Sydney. Dr. Coulson jlor.s little more than 65 years of age, but he will be 82 next birthday. Mentally and physically he is keen and [alert, and he is looking forward with I the greatest enthusiasm to : his visft. to Australia, but more :particualrly,. it [seemed from an interview with him on his arrival, to a Pacific Islands cruise lie has arranged.

Dr. Coulson has experienced quite a good measure of the vicissitudes of life. He was born in Cornwall, England, in 1853. His mother died when he was ten months', old and he said that when he was six his father deserted him on the streets of Plymouth. After that, he was put into the workhouse in- Plymouth: When he was ten he was apprenticed to a farmer at Lanlivery, Cornwall, for three and a half years. Later he'joined the Navy, and after that he went to America as an immigrant. "He arrived in San Francisco in 1875 on the lookout for his' father;-, and eventually: he ; found him; not, however, in .San Francisco, but in Auckland, New Zealand. Dr. 1 Coulson is a;graduate of the University of California. He commenced prac--1 tice as a dentist in San Francisco in 11885, and it proved a lucrative venture.

Dr. Coulson was met on his arrival by Mr. James Lobb, an old friend, of Waitahuna, North Olago, who is also something of a globe trotter and shortly contemplates making another long trek overseas: At one time Dr. Coulsoii sailed before'the mast in-one of the Southern Cross/ missionary ; vessels, and in Sydney he proposes joining a steamer for a cruise around the islands he visited m his younger days. Another reason for his visit .to . the Southern Hemisphere is that he is desirous of seeing something of the Melbourne' Centenary celebrations.

AN EARLY RISER. ' T)r. 'Coulsori retired;/ten. years 'ago and: since then lie has done a considerable amount of travelling. In July last he started out on a long tour, from which he returned to Sari Francisco in November. At.the end of his present trip he intends - flying to South America. He keeps himself in good condition by rising each morning at 5.30, taking a plunge in a salt water bath, by making a point of having- a good walk before, each meal, and retiring to bed about 9.30 each riight. Dr. Coulson is also a total abstainer. He joined a band of hope as a"boy, and said today that he had never taken alcoholic liquor. Even on the night of a fancy dress and dinner party on the trip down to Wellington from San Francisco he adhered to his early-to-bed rule, but not before he had set the ball rolling. He wore a sailor costume and danced the sailor's hornpipe for the gathering. Several institutions have benefited from the purse of Dr. Coulson. He has provided the nuclsus for four libraries in Cornwall and also another in Havana Cuba. In addition he has made various gifts to the Crocker Home for elderly people in San Francisco, and he has given a park to the little town of Lostwithiel, in Cornwall, where he was poor as a boy.