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New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9219, 23 November 1888, Page 4

Our city is singularly favoured in the number of citizens and residents in the district who think kindly of it and its people in making disposition of their property before passing away from this world, and the gifts to our charities and public institutions of various kinds are | altogether phenomenal. We believe that nothing of this kind, or at least to anything like the same extent, is found in the record of any other district i n the colony; and we are inclined to attribute it at least in part to a certain kindliness or affection which the beauty and attractiveness of the city and its surroundings inspire in the minds of those who have been for any time resident in the neighbourhood of Auckland. Certain it is that people | who have ever resided in our city, din" to it with very kindly attachment g 0 where they will, or reside where they may, either in other parts of the colony or beyond seas; something after the fashion of the Hebrew captives when in exile they thought of Jerusalem, and wept when they remembered Zion • and sang, "If 'J forget thee, O Jerusalem let my right hand forget her cunning and it must be something kindred to this that prompts so many of her sons to give or bequeath their gifts to Auckland. The latest illustration has just occurred in a bequest of £5000 by the late Mr. Leslie, 9f Parnell, to found an Orphanage. It is to a certain extent a gift to the Presbyterian Church, of which the deceased gentleman was a member but it was clearly in his intention that there should be nothing exclusive or sectarian in his gift, for he expressly stated that " children of all races and creeds shall be admissable to the Orphanage." It is true that he specified the doctrines of the Presbyterian Church as those in which the children should be trained, as was reasonable in a donor who had himself belonged to that communion; but it is clear that this was not in a proselytising spirit, but only to ensure that religious instruction should be an inherent, element in the institution. There is an advantage too in this, as a sort of protection against his gift being swallowed up, like some other gifts, in the maelstrom of public finance. We can readily understand how nowadays any per c benevolently wishing to benefit a, particular class of the community, will seek to guard his bequest against its diversion to other and selfish ends. We have seen as much as to know that if the late Mr. Leslie, had bequeathed his money in certain ways, it would have been simply thrown into a common fund, and been used to save the general crowd of ratepayers from taxation ; and it is devoutly to be hoped that the trustees of the Leslie bequest will be very careful to not sur render their trust into other hands, as some other executors most unfortun ately have. Indeed, it is probable that the warnings which we have repeatedly uttered on this subject may have had the effect of inducing the deceased gentleman and his advisers to fix up the trust in such a way that it could not be diverted from his original intentions : a course which we sincerely hope will be taken by every other citizen who may be contemplating the conferring of similar boons on the poor or the orphan, or on art or learning, in Auckland. The bequest, which has been made for an Orphanage, may not be sufficient for starting on a very extensive scale ; but, if judiciously invested or expended, it may be the nucleus of an extensive and successful institution ; for there is little doubt that it will be added to by subsequent donors, who will be stimulated to similar good works. It would, certainly, be very _ desirable, and would be a striking exemplification of the tendency to religious fellowship, if the new institution could be worked ir some way in co-operation with the Orphanage at present existing at Parnell. In such co-operation there need be no surrender in the least degree either of responsibilities or control, on the part of either the Church of England or the Presbyterian Church ; and as no doubt members of the Wesleyan. Congregational, and Baptist Communions will by-and-by similarly bethink them of the duty of making provision for their orphans by bequests or donations. a large and flourishing institution under joint control, instead of a number of small and inefficient orphan schools, would attest to the reality of the honourable and evidently sincere and increasing desire of the evangelical Protestant denominations of this place to dwell together as brethren in co operation and unity.