AWAY FOR MANY YEARS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 14930, 1 March 1912, Page 7

AWAY FOR MANY YEARS.

; MISSING WOMAN TURNS UP. 'THE OWNER OF PROPERTY. ' ■ [BY TELEGRAPH. —OWN CORRESPONDENT.] Ceristchurch, Thursday. , ' A STORY presenting some extraordinary features was told in the Supremo Court to-day by the plaintiff in a civil action, a woman of nearly 70. .'. It appeared that in 1889 she left her ' home owing to domestic- infelicity, and disappeared completely from the ken of (■«: "her family. She was the owner of a farm ,- of 143 acres, which was then valued at ~ . about £30 an acre, and is now valued at " anything from £40 to £50. She left New Zealand for Australia, and for 20 years '~ maintained herself by her own industry, - acting at various times as cook and washerwoman. She adopted an assumed 1 . name, and' seemed to be content to let ■ the years pass without making any claim on her property. It was not until 1907 that she wrote to one of her sons letting *' _ • him know that she was still in the land of th* living. . Another remarkable, feature of her experience was that oat of hex none too large earnings she had contrived to pay ■' 5s a week towards the purchase of the -' cottage in which she was living in an obscure Australian township. She had actually paid off £50 of the purchase money. . The old lady was quite bright and cheerful in the witness box, and did not J: I;;'appear to be impressed with the fact that she had done anything unusual