A MISER'S LIFE

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVII, Issue 4459, 19 October 1933, Page 2

A MISER'S LIFE

EXISTED IN PENURY SLEPT ON A FORTUNE A few weeks ago the announcement that a public inquiry was to be held to discover the rightful heir of Martin Edward Burke, an 84-years-old Irishman, led to the disclosure that Burke, who died in a public hospital in June, 1923, apparently in extreme poverty, was possessed of an estate of £43,000, now, with accumulations, worth more than £50,000. Now that the inquiry has been begun, further disclosures increase the amazement about the life which Burke led.

Burke was on the verge of being buried as a pauper when it was accidentally discovered that he had been a wealthy man. On the evening of his death the landlady of the residence at which he lived went to clean up the room Burt had occupied, and on turning over the mattress of his bed found it contained a number of hard lumps. These, on 'investigation, proved to be bonds and rolls of banknotes. Later a box was examined and found to contain additional securities. The source of Burke’s fortune is more or less a mystery, except that he was of miserly habits and was known to have made speculations in land near the Federal capital territory, which turned out profitable. People who knew him attribute his accumulations to close, persistent saving and shrewd buying and selling. Burke certainly lived in the most niggardly possible manner. For instance, he always purchased clothing second-hand. So far as is known, no one ever saw him spend a. shilling in the ordinary way men spend money. He bought no books. He read newspapers which had been discarded by others. He had no charities. He never went to a theatre. The cost of his personal maintenance was reduced to a minimum. He occupied a room in a residential flat at Darlinghurst, and arranged with the landlady to supply him with breakfast, part of the bargain being that this meal should include eggs. It happened that when the arrangement was made eggs were 2s a dozen. When they fell in due time to Is a dozen, he insisted that it was only reasonable that he should be given two eggs for breakfast,

instead of one. Such other food as he was accustomed to eat he purchased and cooked for himself. The miser’s history has been traced with what is believed to be complete certainty. He was born in County Clare, Ireland, and came to Australia when he was title more than 20 years of age. Landing at Melbourne, he joined the Victorian police, with which he served for a couple of years. He then moved to New South Wales and joined the police. Two years later he obtained an appointment in the postal service and in time became postmaster. In that capacity he was stationed at Various country towns, finally being appointed to a city post office, where he remained until 1903, when he retired from the service. His only known source of income at that time was a small pension. Burke left no will, and about 700 claims, principally from Ireland, were received to share in the intestacy. In the process of elimination whole blocks of these claims were rejected, and the Master in Equity is now inquiring into the few remaining for serious consideration. One woman journeyed from California, believing that Burke was the father of her dead husband, but she was told that she had made a mistake about the identity of the deceased.