OBITUARY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19670, 12 December 1933, Page 2

OBITUARY

I MR ELLIOT CUMBERLAND. United Press Association—By Electrlo Telegraph—Copyright LONDON, December 10. The death is announced of Mr Elliot ; Cumberalnd, the well-known engineer j formerly of Melbourne, aged 61 years. I Deceased achieved wealth by the in- | vention of an electrolytic system of ; preventing corrosion. | The invention revolutionised ship- : ping, and saved shipowners millions. It | was used when the Maurentania broke ! the Atlantic record, and adopted by i the British, French, American, Italian and Argentine navies. Mr Cumberland resided at the Coombe Hill Golf Club, of which he has held a lease since 1918. He installed there a Japanese garden at a cost of £SOOO, described as the most colourful sight in Surrey. He was also a dog lover, and bred pedigree setters, golden retrievers and cairn terriers. His fondness for dogs resulted in close contact with the Prince of Wales, who often played at Coombe Hill. Mr Cumberland ordered his remains to be cremated and scattered at a favourite spot beneath the silver- ! birches near the ninth green. MISS STELLA BENSON. I British Official Wireless RUGBY, December 8. i British literature has suffered a ! severe loss by the death in China from ' pneumonia of Stella Benson, traveller, author, suffragist and nurse, at the age j

of 42 years. Miss Benson was bom in England in January, 1892, and was educated at Home. Endowed with the spirit of adventure end a cheerful disregard of hardship, she spent much of her girlhood ill wandering through Germany, France and Switzerland. She was an ardent supporter of the women’s suffrage movement, however, and, returning to England in 1914, played a prominent part in the campaign of the “militants.” During the war she worked for 18 months in the East End of London and lr.ter on the land. Meanwhile she hr.d written three books, “I Pose,” “This is the End,” and “Twenty.” Going to America in 1918, she arrived in San Franc::eo with five dollars in her purse and knowing none there. Before she left she had earned money as a university coach, a lady’s maid, a collector of overdue bills, a book salesman and a “reader” on a newspaper. Still short of money, she resumed her wanderings by crossing the Pacific in the smallest Japanese passenger ship on that ocean. The vessel was so violently tossed about that before it reached Honolulu she had a broken shouldei and many minor wounds. After recovery she reached Hongkong and kept herself by teaching a class of 50 Chinese and Eurasians. Civil war being in progress, she volunteered as a nurse and served as an X-ray assistant in a Pekin hospital. Thence she went to India where she earned a living by writing bright articles for newspapers. Throughout her wanderings in fact she had been making notes in preparation for more books and had also contributed stories and articles to publications in the places she visited, Marrying in 1921 J. C. O’Gorman, of the Chinese Customs, she lived for several years in China. Her writings are distinguished by originality, alert observation, poetic imagination and a fascinating sense of fun. Among her books are “Living Alone,” “The Poor Man,” “Pipers and a Dancer,” “Sketches of Travel,” “Worlds Within Worlds,” and “Tobit Transplanted.” The last of these appeared in February, 1931, and is a story based on her observation of the hardships endured by "White” Russians stranded in Man- j churia. Her latest published work was “Pull Devil, Pull Baker.” I MR. R. GALBRAITH. By Telegraph—Press Association ASHBURTON, December 11. Private advice was received this morning of the death at Stratford, ] Taranaki, of Mr Robert Galbraith, j who was Mayor of Ashburton for 16 J years. Mr Galbraith had been living j in Stratford since 1930.