BENEFACTOR'S DEATH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21469, 18 April 1933, Page 10

BENEFACTOR'S DEATH

FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY The 50th anniversary of the death of Mr. Edward Costley, who was ony of the most prominent of Auckland's benefactors, falls to-day. Mr. Costley, who was 89 years old at the time of his death, arrived at Auckland, by way of the Bay of Islands, from Sydnev, about 1838. At that time a few tents scattered along the beach* of Town or Commercial Bay constituted the settlement of Auckland. A man of shrewd business capacity, Mr. Costley judiciously invested in allotments throughout the settlement, and, with the rapid growth of population, these increased enormously in value. Most of them were soon built upon, and the rents were reinvested in property. When nearing the end of his long life, Mr. Costley sent for his solicitor, Mr. Samuel Jackson, and Mr. D. Hean, then manager of the National Bank, to arrange his affairs, and immediately after his death the executors addressed a letter to the Mayor of Auckland informing him that with the exception of a few minor legacies, Mr. Costley had bequeathed the whole of his estate, valued at £135,000, to the Auckland Hospital, the Old Men's Home, the Parnell Orphan Home, the Auckland Institute, the Auckland Public Library, the Sailors' Home and the Ti-ining School at Kohimarama. Six years later the then Governor, the Earl of Onslow, laid the foundation stone of the Costley Home for the Aged Poor at One Tree Hill. The 43rd anniversary of the opening of the home falls next Sunday.