PROSPECTING A LEGACY.

Oamaru Mail, Volume I, Issue 324, 8 May 1877, Page 4

PROSPECTING A LEGACY.

An odd case of ' ; prospecting a ligncv r: (says an English paper) came umkriio:ic • at the Bary county court recently. The defendant in a suit, in answer to a rr,\ -s----tion put to him as to a sum of £IOO l.i'i to him by his mother, sta-ed that is had "gone to where it was iw!n/. : If then came out that lie had paid it into the hands of au iun-kceper imu-.r an agroenient drawn out by a lawy._-r chat the legacy, little or much, slioahl, . witen it became tangillj, be giv.-n 10 the innkeeper, who was to keep tie defend-nt until he died and bury him resp.-ctably. The defendant being a "' midule-ag-.d man," the bargain dous not appear to io a very profitable one fur the ii-.ukeep.-r ; for in these daj"s, when centenarians ar~ by no means uncommon, it is not impussible that he may have to Keep the defendant for the nest half-century b: fore burying kirn respectably, unless, indeed, the innkeeper is the first to " s.naiLj oh this mortal coil," in which case it is to be presumed that the duty will deve>lvo on his next of kin. It is not a:i unusual custom in some parts of the cmntry for persons who have an unexpected windfall in the shape of a small legacy to pay the amount thus received to a neighbouring publican, and than "drink it out; but oold indeed mus that publican b.j who undertakes to keep a man through, life and bury him respectably when dead for an

unknown amount A bargain ox this nature may lead to indefinite benevolence.

all the more distressing because it is compulsory.