OBITUARY

Southland Times, Issue 21263, 9 December 1930, Page 5

OBITUARY

SIR OTTO BEIT. SOUTH AFRICAN BENEFACTOR. (United Press Assn.—By Telegraph—Copyright.) London, December 7. The death has occurred of Sir Otto Beit. Sir Otto Beit, one of the best known Anglo-South Africans and a great benefactor to hospitals and other institutions, was born in December, 1865. Ills father was Alfred Beit, a Hamburg Jew, who acquired great wealth in South Africa, became one of Rhodes's ablest and most loyal financial supporters, founded at Oxford a chair of colonial history and left large bequests to Cape Town, Johannesburg and London for educational purposes. The business side of Sir Otto Beit’s life was chiefly concerned with his directorships of the British South Africa Company and Rhodesia Railways, Limited. During the World War, however, he was a zealous hospital worker and he had always shown that his interest in the alleviation of human suffering was very wide and practical. He founded the Beit Memorial Fellowship for Medical Research and was a member of the governing body of the Imperial College of Science and Technology and a trustee of the Rhodes Trust which provides for scholarships at Oxford for students from the British dominions and colonies and the United States. Originally scholarships for German students were included under the trust, but these were abolished in 1916. The Imperial College and many other institutions have benefited largely by the generosity Sir Otto Beit showed in his desire to encourage research in science, and medicine. In November, 1928, when the progress in the understanding of the use of radium for the treatment of cancer led to a great demand for the precious remedy, he contributed £50,000 for the purchase of radium to be lent to hospitals in need of it. This sum was sufficient to buy four grammes—a spoonful, but a very large quantity as radium goes. Shortly before this Sir Otto Beit had given £13,000 in response to a Red Cross appeal for funds to establish a clinic for the treatment of rheumatic diseases. He was given a baronetcy in 1924 and was an hon. LL.D, of Cape Town University and a Fellow of the Royal Society. MR ANDREW WYLIE. (Per United Press Association.) Wellington, December 8. Mr Andrew Wylie, a barrister and solicitor and well-known as an old resident of Wellington, died suddenly yesterday at his Heretaunga residence. Although he had not been in good health for some time past the deceased was well enough on Saturday to take part in a game of golf. He was aged 70.