MILLIONAIRE’S WILL

Greymouth Evening Star, 8 November 1929, Page 3

MILLIONAIRE’S WILL

. FIERCE PRESS DENUNCIATION; (By Cable—Press Assn.—Copyright.) CAPE TOWN, November 7. The will of Sir J. B. Robinson, the pioneer of the Rand goldfields, who died last week, is .published. The estate is believed to be worth twelve millions sterling, and not one penny was left to any public purpose. ■ The principal beneficiaries are his daughter, Ida, Countess Labia, who inherits one-third of the estate, as well as the reversionary interests; secondly, his son, the new Baronet, Sir Joseph Robinson, who receives two-thirds of one-third; and thirdly; one-third of one-third ,of the estate goes to his daughter Florence. His widow, Lady Robinson, receives a life interest in one-third of the estate. The will allots £lOOO to one daughter residing in England, and £5OO each to two children of his son, Wilfred, who died in Australia in 1922, the will adding: “And no further amount of

capital shall accrue to them, either directly or indirectly.” The “Cape Times,” commenting on the will, declares: It offends against ordinary human decency in two ways—first, in throwing contemptuous legacies at the heads of one surviving daughter and two grandchildren. The paper adds: “No warning of the depth of contempt, which these vindictively minute legacies to his flesh and blood would bring upon his own memory, seems to have visited this old man. His eyes were shut during his lifetime, and after his death his will speaks out the almost incredible evil of his nature. That is one way wherein his will stinks to heaven. It stinks, too, against public decency. Robinson owed the whole of his immense fortune to his chances of life in South Africa, and he has not left one penny of all his millions to any public purpose. Such a will carries the dreadful penalty of branding the name of the man who made it with an infamy so conspicuous' as to transcend the highest pinnacle of indignant scorn. Those who, in future, may acquire great wealth in South Africa, will shuddei' lest their memory should come within possible risk of rivalling the loathly thing that is the memory of Sir Joseph Robinson.”