THE PAGE MILLIONS.

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 330, 17 October 1908, Page 5

THE PAGE MILLIONS.

ROMANTIC STORY.

A WELLINGTON CLAIMANT, AETER NINETY YEARS. Mrs. Simes, of Mitchelltown, is a lady who has golden dreams. If she has had troubles in tho years gone by, she can hope for mora than a silver lining, provided that her dreams come true. Mrs. Simes's maiden name was Page, and to the members of a certain family tho name Pago spells prospective millions} not meroly finite millions in one mountain sum, but new millions every year. Ninety, years ago an old man named Henry Pago, cherishing a dreadful grudge against his near relations, and impelled by an inordinate joy in whetting expectations, died, leaving a will in which all his property was tied up for 90 years. Tho property, consisting of enormous commons on- the outskirts of London, was vested in trustees, under conditions which made it inaccessible to eager heirs until the expiration of that weary time. When Mrs. Simes was a little girl, living about sixty miles from all these acres, in Buckinghamshire, her father, John Page, used to tell his children of tho heritage which might some ,day be theirs. The Wellington claimant, has three brothers, living now in CanterburyWilliam Thomas Page, who is older than herself, and James and Harry Page, who are both younger. They all remember their father and their mother telling them how this land was tied up, by legal process, for 90 years, and how they must be careful not to lerfc ■pass the opportunity, when that time expired, of asserting their claims. This Mrs. Simes intends now to do, and legal stops are being taken in tha matter. „ Some Family History. The relationship between Mrs. Simes and Henry Page, tho last holder of tho property, is, not..entirely clcar, but the. family are claiming, through a, Mrs. Dumbellton, who was formerly a Miss Pago, and the aunt, it is understood, of John Page, father of the claimant. It is not thought that Sirs. Dumbellton had any children.- Mrs. • Simes remembers. her mother saying that she had none. Mrs. Simes's father, who died four years ago at a very ripe old ago, was a child when the property was willed, but ho never lost sight- of the possibility of his children coming some day into possession'. ' "If ever you get it," he would say, "you will never want for anything." He could hardly have realised, however, what unearned increment would mean in the case of waste lands on the confines of Loudon. The valuo of the Page estate is now assessed at anything between 50. and 150 million pounds, and it yields an income of about two million pounds a year. The trustees under tho will, whose duty was to koep tho property intact, can, scarcely have been so wakeful during the long decades as tho prospective claimants of tno millions. Some of the finest residential districts in London have been erected on tho site of the waste commons, and the estate includes also a suburban area which will increase enormously in value within the next few years. Harrow is the natural centre of the estate, which includes practically all the land within a line drawn from the Marble Arch up to tho Edgeware Road, through Hendon to. Elstreo Station, across to the outskirts of Rickmansworth, thence to a point a few miles south' of Uxbridge, and' back to Hyde Park, by Southall, Acton, and Notting Hill. Crown Threatens to Seize the Area. The Crown is now threatening to seize the area, in view of the uncertain ownership, and this throat has brought forward half a dozen claimants in the colonies alone, besides Mrs. Simes, in Wellington, and her brothers in Canterbury. Mrs. Simes, with her parents and brothers, came to New. Zealand in 1870. Her, mother died twenty-Sfivbn years ago, but, as has been stated, her" rather lived to talk about 'his children's claims quite rocehtly. a Dominion representative saw yesterday, was not disposed to tali with too much certainty about establishing hoi claims.- She understands that there may be "many.a slip 'twist cup . and lip," especially when cup and lip are so far apart. There aro other claimants who must be considered, but the prize .is so magnificent that if they all shared equally they would more than realise Mr. John Pago's prophecy of " never wanting anything. It is a coincidence that Mrs. Simes has an uncle, living in England, whose name is Henry Page; namesake of the saturnine old humourist whoso strange caprice is causing, after ninety years, so much excitement.