PROFESSOR HOLLOWAY, THE PILL MAKER, AS A PHILANTHROPIST.

Waikato Times, Volume IV, Issue 196, 12 August 1873, Page 2

PROFESSOR HOLLOWAY, THE PILL MAKER, AS A PHILANTHROPIST.

T^B Argus'* London correspondent writes :—": — " Once mx>nV . a time, na the story books say, a poor lad entered the seV r vice of an old gentleman, wb'o, dying, bequeathed the lad a couple of recipes for the manufacture of some harmles*. pills and possibly soothing ointment. By dint of energetid ' pushing in the fi>at instance, and of unlimited advertising afterwards, these medicine* came into repute all orer theijqrld. The proprietor aoou.in»lated tens of thousands of pounds, hundreds of thousands of pounds, and ultimately millions. Ho purchased the magnificent estate of Tottenhuvst Park, in Berkshire, collected a superb gallery of pictures, and lived eu grand seigneur. Two years ago he resolved to devote the bulk of his fortune to charitable purposes, and, concealing his name, advertised in the English, papers for infoinmtion a,nd suggestions as to the most judioious method of expending money for a benevolent purposo * As a matter of course, an avalanche of begging letters descended upon, him^ but many sensible and practical comi munications were also received. From these he learned | that one of the most pressing necessities of the United wai a lunatic for the middle classes. Accordingly h& \ devoted £100,000 to the erection of an inititution of this kind upon his own estate- iv the immediate vicinity of the j vrell-known Virginia Water. The structure j 8 now a p., preaching completion, and as the founder visited mo6t of the asylums in Great Britain before deciding upon his plans,, and consulted all the best authorities on the subject, it is believed that the new establishment will be one of the most perfect in the mother country ; while it is sajd that many qf tho improvements introduced are likely to be copied by the Government in the national asylums. Numerous other schemes, each of which will involve the outlay of what moat persons would regard as & princely fortune, are befrig ostentatiously proceeded with by the philanthropist referred to,, who, having neither wife nor child, and being 60 years of age, is preparing to divest himself of the whole of his accumulations, amounting, it is said, to upwards of ten. millions, sterling, before death steps in and takes, them frori? trim. Hence his name will be associated with the names of the. three Americans — Ezra Cornell, George Pe,abody, and Peter Cooper — each of whom did likewise. Most of his time i* stated to be devoted to works ot benevolence, and thei shrewdness of his' business, habits enables him to baffle in. most cases the deigns of impostors. Hit name will beea.sUy remembered, by his countrymen, for it it the fwniliaj;. one of Thomas Holloway.