LATE MR. W. ARNOTT

Greymouth Evening Star, 14 May 1927, Page 3

LATE MR. W. ARNOTT

AN APPRECIATION.

Mr J. B. Merrett ■ (Melbourne), writes: —“We have lost our dear old friend, Mr. Arnott,” were among the first words I heard from Mrs Merrett as I stepped from the liner that conveyed me from England. During the voyage the. memory of him came to my mind, and it was singular that he'died at the time my thought were centred on him, ten thousand miles distant. It is not my purpose to try and explain the psychic relation of that coincidence, but to comment upon the manliness that characterised his life. Mr Arnott had not the advantages of a scholastic education. Had he done so, he would have been a statesman, an engineer or a skilful architect. Deprived of education he laboured under a disability that was the common lot of most boys, a hundred years ago. His life covered a wonderful span. While France was passing through a revolutionary stage in its history and Queen Victoria was about to ascend the throne, young Arnott was toiling for his daily food. He was set to work before he was ton and was one of the links between this and that dark age when boys slaved in the mines or crawled through the chimney flues to earn their bread. He lived during the reigns of four sovereigns and entered well matured manhood long before the Crimean War. Mr Arnott was a man of boundless energy. Even between the ages of eighty to ninety, when I knew him, he grew impatient over a slow walk or the timorous movements of a sluggish workman. His mind was as keen as a mathematician. I have witnessed his calculations in figures and estimates until I felt abashed at my own incompetence. He could, with remarkable alertness and celerity, see through a problem or extricate himself from building intricacies. This genial man was always out to help. Dozens of instances come to my mind ■of assistance he had given unknown even to his intimate friends. Having passed through the school of adversity he could never shake off the passion to assist others even when he was conscious of slender security, and a most remote possibility of being repaid. This utter trustworthiness in mankind was beautiful to behold, even though it cost him much. He relished the joy of helping others and made it the main plank of his religion. Mr Arnott was remarkably patient. He never censured or condemned his fellows. His patience is exemplified in the many specimens of his handiwork. There are few to-day who could take greater pride in workmanship than he exercised even in his ninetieth year. Mr Arnott was thorough. One day in Greymouth 1 was standing by his side, when a workman twice measured a piece of timber. Quick and smart came the words, as his employee closed his rule: “You are no good to me if you cannot remember your measurement. when you take it the first time. You waste time when you have to do it twice. Don’t do it again.” Our old friend was public spirited. He was always ready to do oi w give for the benefit of Greymouth. He did not seek prominence in office, but I remember having him on a committee for an Agricultural Show on the TrottingClub grounds in 1905, and he was worth half-a-dozen of the ordinary type of committeemen. As I think. of him at rest, I wonder how many times he followed others to. their repose. He was tender-hearted, kind, generous, just: he was ideal in the home, his faults were few, and his virtues many. As I cast my thoughts across the sea and think of Mr Arnott, I feel a better man for having known him.”