WHEEL OF FORTUNE

Greymouth Evening Star, 11 August 1923, Page 6

WHEEL OF FORTUNE

GARDENER BECOMES A LORD SYDNEY, August 1. Two revelations of the past week go to show that one never knows in Sydney ’-j bustling crowds what man of rank in bushman’s clothes, or who of fortune in penury’s guise, one may rub shoulders with. Nobody who knew him suspected Jack Stuart, the efficient and hardworking head gardener at the beautiful home of the MacDowell's, at Killara, one of Sydney’s select suburbs, of particularly great expectations. A muscular man, of middle age, he came to Sydney more than 20 years ago, and took up land in New Soutii Wales, but adverse seasons pretty well ruined him, and he roamed the world till the eve of the call for volunteers found him among the first. A strenuous time in the ranks left his health impaired, and on his return he sought an outdoor job, and the AlacDoWell s engaged him with the utmost satisfaction to both parties. Day in and day out he was to be seen in his old cabbage-tree hat, hard at work in the well-kept garden, till cne morning he awakes to lind himself Lord Stuart of Ballater, with castles and estates in A berdeensnire and a, rentroll of £2OOO a year. But no sudden revolution in the wheel of fortune can turn Jack Stuart’s head, and he calmly goes on with his digging and mowing, and will continue to do so until the family solicitor, who is coining out on the Osterley, arrives.

Such is the story of a man who has gained a fortune. Another nine days’ wonder concerns one who has left a fortune. Nobody who knew the old man Martin Edward Burke, who eked out a lonely life at a Darlinghurst boarding-house, and was generally supposed to live on a small pension, suspected him of possessing big bank accounts and scrip. When the old bachelor—he was over 80 years of age—became very ill a few weeks ago, the people in the house were at a loss to know what to do, and at length he was conveyed to the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, where he subsequently died. He had no intimate friends and no realtions were known, so tne Public Trustee took over what were believed to be th. small possessions of the intestate. Tlie young clerk w'iio went to take charge of the effects, however, soon became astonished at what he found, and reported to iiis oflice facts which resulted in letters of administration being granted last Friday to tlie Public 'trustee o'er an estate valued at just under £40,000 in shares and bank deposits. Little is known of the old man’s history, or how he acquired this large sum. '1 iie Public Trustee believes that he can trace his place of birth in Ireland, and will search for his next of kin. Burke is supposed to have come to Australia nearly half a century ago, and was for years in the postal service, being postmaster at a small branch office in Sydney when he retired.