THE HEER TO A FORTUNE.

Auckland Star, Volume XLIV, Issue 179, 29 July 1913, Page 7

THE HEER TO A FORTUNE.

(To the Editor.) Sir ' —Frequently one sees in colonial papers statements that .Tack So-and-eo has been left £750,000 in England or U.h.A., and is going Home to claim it Almost immediately afterwards other statements appear of other persons coming into vast wealth. lam the son of a man who spent £38.000 in lawsuits in the English courts, vet did not win. and who died pra-cticalfy bankrupt and broken-hearted through worry and disappointment, and, though he had had an income of over £2,000 when he started was glad to get a living working hi a colliery near Bolton. before he died. Yet in his case there'was no "romance," fancy pleadinjr, -'romantic circumstances" before the House of Lords Appeal Court. He was the cousin of the defendant (Lord Balearres), and «.t tho outeet it was only a family squabble over a small property left them by a relative, only worth a few thousands. What is the chance of a colonial with a few hundreds winning a case where hundreds of thousands are in dispute, or proving their caae if in Chancery? What 1 wish to point out Ls that, even if they have a good claim, they may .s-pend a fortune in 'England, and never get anything, and the only one better off will be their lawyers. Incidentally, they will unsettle their children, and make plenty of sorrow for themselves. The old man out Avondale way who refused to claim a fortune left him, or supposed to hiivelieen maybe was wiser than some of Auckland's '•.vise ones,"' and if he slept well o' nights, and had an easy mind, he was "better off than hovering round the law courts in his old age. If, when publishing news of missing heirs coming into fortunes, newspapers also published, tho fact that, generally, it costs more to gut tho money than it is worth, they would save many a hearts ache, especially in New Zealand and Australia, as -colonials rise to the bait of the lawyers very easily, and will eel] the roof from, over their heads to pay lawyers' fees, once they get start* L—l am, ctc^ SOEBTOJBI- lEOEH3JES.