OBITUARY

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 19784, 7 March 1927, Page 6

OBITUARY

DEATH OF MR W.S. DUSTIN BUSINESSMAN AND SPOETSMAN Associations with business and social life in Wanganui since 1879 were broken by the passing of Mr W. S. Dustin, who died on Saturday <afternoon. Starting in Wanganui as a baker in a small way, Mr Dustin built up strong interests in the confectionery and bakery trades. He founded the family concern of Dustin ’s Ltd., pioneered, the Southern Cross Biscuit Factory, and for a long period continued to be a prominent figure in the expanding commercial life of Wanganui The late Mr Dustin was 66 years old, and was a native of Plymouth, England. Raised on the shores of Plymouth sound, and trained at the naval school of Greenwich, he naturally followed a family tradition which led him towards the sea. Thus he made many voyages, and it was finally as baker on the ‘ ‘ Geraldine Paget ’ ’ that he came to New Zealand and settled in Wanganui. As a citizen of a growing town he was prominent in the social and sporting life of the community, as well as in its principal and business life. He was for some years a borough councillor, and as chairman of the tramway committee used his progressive business instincts wisely. As a member of the Chamber of Commerce, a keen supporter of the Garrison Band, and president of the New Zealand Master Bakers’ Association, he was an influential figure in different spheres of activity. Sport in Wanganui benefited from the late Air Dustin’s consistent patronage. In his youth Mr Dustin had been a clever boxer; —later ho trained Tom Pettmgall, the New Zealand champion—and he started the old navals’ boxing school. The fact that he was at different times patron of the Kaierau and Pirates football clubs, vice-president of the Union Boat Club, vice-president of the Rugby Union, a prominent member of the Wanganui Bowling club, and patron of the Pirates Athletic Club, testifies to the breadth of his athletic interests.

Further, he was an enthusiastic volunteer, a member of the old Wanganui Naval Artillery, in which he rose to the rank of chief petty officer, and later he became captain of the Wan ganui Guards. As a Freemason he was a member of the St. Andrew Kilwinning Lodge. He was also a member and a trustee of the A.O.F. order.

Mr Dustin knew Rugby football as few men know it, and his interest was given a practical turn by the skill of his sons, W. Dustin, now of Manawatu, having undoubtedly been one of tho finest footballers the game hereabouts has seem Another son who was a fine footballer, Claude Dustin, was killed on Gallipoli. Mr Dustin’s family of nine, with whom widespread sympathy will be felt, consists of Mrs P. J. Bailey, Mrs R. B. Stockwell, Mrs E. O. Traill, Miss Hazel Dustin, and Messrs D. E., W. S., S. P. S., and A. F. Dustin. Mr Dustin’s first wife died in 1914, and eleven years ago he married Miss H. Stephenson, who survives him. So strong was Air Dustin’s football interest that he followed the first AJI Blacks on their epoch-making tour of 1905, and in 1924 he again went to England as a member of the official party with Porter’s invincible team. While in England the first signs of chronic ill-health became manifest, and only careful treatment and a naturally strong constitution permitted him to stall it off until tho end came peacefully on Saturday. The funeral will leave his residence, 71 Wilson Street, for the old cemetery at 10 a.m. to-day.