CLAIM TO ESTATE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19406, 16 February 1925, Page 7

CLAIM TO ESTATE

MILLIONS INVOLVED. RIGHTS OF HEIRS NOW SHELVED. Press Association—By Telegraph—Copyright. AMSTERDAM, February 13. (Received Feb. 15, at 5.5 p.m.) The Supremo Court rejected the claim of James Taylor, a resident of Woolwich, to the estate of Pieter Taylct Vanderhulst, reputed to be worth 6,000,000 sterling. Vandorhulst died at Haarlem in 1778. He ordered his money not to be touched for a oenturv, after which it was to be distributed to his male descendants, many of whom have since failed in their claims. The court has now decided that the rights of heirs have been superannuated.—Renter. SCOTSMAN MIGR ATES TO HOLLAND. AMASSES FORTUNE AS MERCHANT SHIPPER. MYSTERY OF STEEL CHESTS. LONDON, February 14. The Daily Chronicle says that Vanderhulst was a Scotsman who migrated to Holland and amassed a. fortune as a merchant shipper. Originally ho left £3,000,000, and also four stool chests which arc still unopened in tho Haarlem Museum. Tho contents are unknown. Part of the estate was bequeathed to founding 32 almshouses at Haarlem. The remainder has now increased to £6,000,000. The claimants to the wealth have been, legion, and they came from Scotland, England, and America. One group of nine Scottish families pooled their resources to fight their claim, but they were unsuccessful. James Taylor is understood to have based his claim on documents lately discovered in a secret drawer of an old chest which had been mislaid since 1875.—A, and N.Z. Cable.