£265 HIDDEN.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19057, 20 July 1927, Page 10

£265 HIDDEN.

AUCKLAND PENSIONERS'

HOARD.

CLAIMED BY DEPARTMENT.

[THE PBESS Special Service] AUCKLAND, July 19. An unusual etory of a sum of money that was hidden away in an old tin ciiest and discovered by accident was told at a meeting ot the Auckland rLospual Board. It appears tnat nearly a year sgo the late James Marley Lucas and his wife, who .were living in rooms at Otahuhu, handed over the chest to their landlady to do what she liked with. Mr Lucas was aged 84 and his wife was over 90. They appeared to be in poor circumstances, and were in receipt of a pension. The landlady, Mrs FothergUl, opened the chest, and finding only old clothes in it, shut it up again. . . Some months later, curiosity prompted her to open it again, and, wrapped away among a lot of old clothes, she came across the sum of £265 in notes and other coin. Shortly afterwards Mr Lucas died, and his wife seemed too aged to know whether the money Kelonged to them or not. Mrs Fothergill handed the sum over to her solicitors, who gave it to the secretary of the Hospital Board. In the meantime the Pensions Department was informed of the discovery, and has now issued a writ against the Board for the recovery of the money. At to-day's meeting the chairman (Mr William Wallace) said the Board intended to ficht tlie case, and its defence had been filed.