THE HALL BEQUESTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 13481, 4 July 1907, Page 4

THE HALL BEQUESTS.

The munificent" bequests willed by the late Sir John Hall for charitable and other public purposes in Christchurch and Canterbury can be appreciated: and recognised nowhere better than in Auckland. This city can point with pride to the example which has been set before the whole colony by the affectionate generosity of its citizens," who have given with open hand for the improvement and elevation of their fellow-colonists, and can rejoice with whole-hearted sympathy in the proof that this noble civic spirit is emulated in sister-towns. In this age of great)

social' changes, when notable accumulations of wealth and riches,in private hands are attracting public attention .and exciting widespread envy and animosity, unselfish and kindly thought on the part of the; wealthy for the wants of the less fortunate and for the ennobling of their towns pours over discontent like oil over troubled waters. There can be no bitterness in the civic life of t>ur communities while great men voluntarily serve their fellows and while wealth is held as a trust and voluntarily used for the common good by its possessors. Sir John Hall gave through his life and at his death that sound evidence of loyal and Christian citizenship. He made his city and his colony alike his debtors while, he was able to exert on their behalf his keen intellect and eminent personality, and he has left behind him an imperishable monument. The numerous items of his bequests testify to the broadminded sympathy with which he worked for the "physical, mental, and spiritual improvement" of the people and to-his appreciation of I every form of regenerating influence and he has done a final service to his fellow-colonists by enrolling himself among that increasing company which, in Auckland as in Christchurch and elsewhere throughout the colony, has made of riches a bond that strengthens and inspires the civic harmony that must ever be at the base of a! national greatness.