WHEEL OF FORTUNE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18471, 7 August 1923, Page 9

WHEEL OF FORTUNE.

GARDENER BECOMES A LORD.

AN OLD MAN'S WEALTH.

£40,000 AWAITING AN OWNER. [FROM OT7R OWN CORRESPONDENT.] . SYDNEY. August 1. Two revelations of the past week go to show that one never knows in Sydney's 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 South Wales, but adverse.seasons pretty well ruined him, and lie roamed the world till the eve of the war saw him back in Australia, and 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 on outdoor job, and the MacDowell's engaged him with the utmost satisfaction to both parties. Day 'in and day out he was to be seen in his old cabbr,ge-tree hat, hard.at work in the well-kept garden, till one morning he awakes to find himself Lord Stuart of Ballater, with castles and estates in Aberdeenshire and a rentroll of £2000 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 coming 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 boardinghouse, and was generally supposed to live on a small pension, suspected him of possessing big bank accounts and scrip. When.the old bachelorhe 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 relations were known, so the Public Trustee took over what were believed to be the small possessions of the intestate. The young clerk who went to take charge of the effects, however, soon became astonished at what he found, and reported to. his office facts, which resulted, m letters of administration being granted last Friday to the Public" Trustee over 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. The 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.