CITY BENEFACTOR.

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 470, 3 June 1932, Page 4

CITY BENEFACTOR.

Death Occurs of Mr T. J. Edmonds.

Mr Thomas John Edmonds, one of the most generous of public benefactors Christchurch has ever known, died at a late hour last evening in Lewisham Hospital. A man who took a pride in his city and in its growth and improvement, Mr Edmonds has left behind him many monuments of his sincerity of purpose and extreme generosity. Probably his most handsome gift to the city was made in September of 1928, and out of it resulted the erection of one of the show-places of Christchurch—the old people’s shelter and band rotunda, surrounded by beautiful lawns, which is situated between the Manchester and Colombo Street Bridges. It was the intention of Mr Edmonds in making the gift to mark fifty years of residence in Christchurch, that the scheme which he visualised, and was ultimately brought to fruition, should prove the starting point for the proposed Pioneer Boulevard. The scheme, which was a comprehensive one, incorporated the erection of the old people’s shelter and band stand, with seats on the north side of the River Avon; twelve steel built lamp columns, six on each side of the river; and a clock tower, thirty feet high, with buttresses, rockery and flower garden, on the triangle opposite the Madras Street Baptist Church. Mr Edmonds followed up this gift in December, 1930, by giving to the people of Greater Christchurch a valuable block of land in order to mark the eightieth anniversary of the founding of the province. The land is at the corner of Wainoni arid River Roads, and adjoins the riverside boulevard. A lover of beauty, Mr Edmonds not only strove to improve the appearance of the city by gi\ ing freely, but he surrounded his business premises in Ferry Road with a garden which is the ■ delight of residents of the district and visitors. He was the founder of the firm of baking powder manufacturers, known as T. J. Edmonds, Ltd., and has watched the concern grow from small beginnings to a flourishing busi-