A WONDERFUL GREEK.

Feilding Star, Volume XIII, Issue 3234, 7 May 1917, Page 3

A WONDERFUL GREEK.

STORY OF A LOYAL FAMILY

The present inhabitants of Greece, from King Tino downwards, have, with the exception of M. Venizelosand his following, proved so utterly treacherous and despicable, that the name "Greek" is likely to bo a by-word among tho Allies for everything that, is contemptible. Mr, W. P. Reeves, New Zealand's first Minister of Labour, who has long 'tken a. sympathetic interest in the Hellenic race, contributes to tho Spectator an interesting record of an An-glo-Hellenic family settled in England, as an illustration of his contention that King Tino and his circlo are not a fair sample of tho race. Rather more than 100 years ago, Mr. Reeves tells us. there lived m Constantinople a Greek merchant who was the first of his nation to distribute Manchester goods in Turkey. He fell under tho Turkish ban, and one evening his wife, en returning home, found her husband murdered. She was allowed to live, but was robbed of all she possessed. Tho merchant's son fled to England, where he founded a prosperous firm, traded with tlie Near East, and amassed a considerable fortune. Throughout his life no strictly observed an injunction laid on him by ■his murdered father. This was never to spend more than one-third of his income, to lay one-third aside, and give the remaining one-third away in upblic or private charities. Before he died, he was able to found houses of charity, colleges, and libraries in Constantinople, Athens and Piraeus. The first year of the war, 1914, found 14 of his descendants with our colours. His son Alexander, who carried on his work with equal success, became an English citizen by the first Act of Parliament signed by Queen Victoria in 1837, and was appointed first Consul-General for Greece. It is said that during the years of his prospertiy he spent as much as £25,000 a year in benefactions in England and Greece.