HALF-MILLION GIFT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20496, 22 February 1930, Page 3 (Supplement)

HALF-MILLION GIFT.

MILLIONAIRE'S DAUGHTER.

AMERICAN POETS ML

Sir John EUerman, the famous shipowner, is to present his daughter with. City of London property worth nearly £500,000 as a new year gift. It was stated at the end of the that negotiations were proceeding for th« purchase by Sir John of a block of offices within a stone's throw of the Bank of England. Art island site, the property; was owned by a trust, and was occupied by many' prominent' firms of brokers, accountants, and merchants. The contract was expected to be signed at any moment* The gift, it was understood, was intended for Mrs. McAlmon, Sir John's daughter, whose romantic marriage with a minor American poet in the States created, a sensation in 1921;

Miss Winifred EHerman. ml:, she was then, was on a tour of the Stales, - when she met Mr. Robert L. McAlmon, .aviator; and footballer, who had turned to writing poetry. - , Within a fortnight they were married, and a brief cablegram!,,stating that they; were going to Engiand was the fiisfi neura Sir John and Lady EHermaa had of" their daughter's romance. Mrs. McAlmon .is herself a briiliaaS writer, her first effort, a little book' of poems, " Region of Lutany," being pubiished when she was IS. Later, under* the name of W. Bryher, she published , "Development," a bitter attack on so-* . cepted ideas. Sir John has in recent years become one of London's greatest ground landlords. Only last August he bought tha estates of the late Lord Iveagh's trustees of 82 acres of land in South Kensington, for nearly £1,000,000. In 1925 about 40 acres around Great Portland Street wera purchased for £5,000,000 by a company of which Sir John Ellerman was a director*