SECRETS OF DIARIES

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXXVII, Issue 19834, 25 June 1934, Page 13

SECRETS OF DIARIES

NOVELIST’S FREE COMMENTS LOCKED UP FOR 50 YEARS The day-to-day secrets of a lifetime are locked away in the diaries of Stella Benson, of Pakhoi, China, novelist and writer of books of travel, in whose will the wish is e ssed that the contents shall not made public until after a lapse of f : years. It is believed, says the “I>:. Telegraph, that the diaries number between 20 and 30 volumes. Each volume was fitted with a lock, and when completed was locked and the key thrown away. The unusual story of the diaries was revealed recently by Major G. H. Benson, of Much Wenlock, Shropshire, the dead novelist’s elder brother. “My sister,” he said, “was very secretive about her diaries, and she intended them to be, literally, a closed book until they are opened in 50 year’s time. She began writing them when she was a child of five, and at first the volumes as they were ended were kept by an aunt who commanded her great confidence. She put them in a safe place—behind lock and key. “Then, when she died, my sister sent the books to the bank. To the best of my belief that is where the bulk of them are at this moment. She put the ong time-embargo on publication because she did not want anyone who could possibly be offended by her writing to be alive when it saw the light of day. She also wrote with a special eye to throwing light on the mentality of the peopie of her age, when, presumably, the memory of the war was so remote that it would be a point of rather historical interest. “Stella’s range of acquaintances was extremely wide, and I think she wrote, in her diary, principally of people in art and literary circles, as well as of her family. I i ave seen small portions of the diary—when, for instance, she wanted opinion on anything. It is extremely outspoken.” Major Benson added that Mr J. C. O’Gorman Anderson, the dead novelist’s husband, was about to return to England on his retirement from the Chinese Customs services. The deceased novelist left £6407 with a net personality of £6393. She left a ll her property to her husband absolir desiring him to present her diaries u the University of Cambridge, to be dealt with as they think fit, but not made public until after the lapse of 50 years.