A MISSING HEIR.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 9134, 5 February 1910, Page 6

A MISSING HEIR.

ALLEGED IMPERSONATION. (Peb Phess Association.) WELLINGTON, Feb. 4. An extraordinary case of a. lost heir and impersonation came before the Supreme Court in Banco to-day on the petition of the Public Trustee for directions as to the disposal of £900, held by him on behalf of George Tuckwell, due under the will of Richard Tuckwell, J who died in 1882. George, the eldest son, I had gone to Australia two years before, and has not been heard of since 1883. In 1893 a letter purporting to bo from him reached a Wellington solicitor, who accordingly executed a deed of conveyance, and I'aid over a sum of money due to George Tuckwell. It is now quite clear that Tuckwell was impersonated, and the money obtained by fraud. Tuckwell's relatives in New Zealand and Australia had long concluded that he was dead, but inquiries were being- continually made about his share in the estate by one Robert Gillespie, who claimed to know him in Cobar, and who said he had a power of attorney from him to collect the legacy. Then in 1901 a letter, signed Geo. Tuckwell, but which Gillespie afterwards admitted to have written, though at Tuckwell's dictation. came claiming the legacy. The relatives by this time were thoroughly suspicious, and" ! police and other inquiries were made, utterly Tailing to reveal the whereabouts of Tuckwell, who seems to have died, and been buried under an assumed name, as no record of registration of death can be found. A petition has been before the Court for five years. To-day Justice Cooper allowed the Trustee to presume that Tuckwell had died intestate, unmarried and without issue, and ordered the Trustee to pay the £900 to the next of kin. should there be no claim on behalf of George Tuckwell during the next six months.