FORGOTTEN FORTUNES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21022, 10 May 1930, Page 10

FORGOTTEN FORTUNES.

£4,000,000 UNCLAIMED DIVIDENDS. Forgotten fortune* totalling nearly £4,000,000 lie in the hands of the officials of the National Exeehequer, which every year benefits to the extent of more than £250,4)00 by the failure of an army of stockholders to claim the interest on Government stock. * ■ This extraordinary fact is disclosed in official figures, which, however, do not cover the full total of these unclaimed dividends. • "The, amount of the unclaimed dividends is certainly large," said a city authority to a Sunday Express representative. “The Bank of England authorities alone can say just how large it is. “ They are not likely to make the figure public for the obvious reason that to do so would bring an avalanche of spurious, or at any rate frivolous claims from all parts of the country.” The present practice of. the bank where unclaimed stock is concerned is to wait until a claimant appeare, and-then to advertise for ’ other claimants to the same stock. The late Sir Edward Hamilton stated that of a total of 68,000 letters sent by the Bank of England notifying conversion of stock, 12,700 were returned through the Dead Letter Office, and only 1200 of these letters could be reposted to new addresses. Unclaimed funds amounting. to nearly £8,000,000 were credited to 10,900 accounts, 40 of which represented holdings of more than £IO,OOO each. One holding in Consols and “Reduced Three" amounted to £187,593 —yet no claim was ever made. Why is it that so many people who own valuable property forget it completely? One reason is that many of these stockholders go abroad and are never heard of again. Then there are those people who, . through illness or old age, forget that they possess Government stock, and there are hundreds of people who, when they die, omit to leave' any reference in theirwills to the possession of the scrip. A surprising claim came before the courts some years ago in which it wis disclosed that an Englishwoman died in Marseilles, at the age of 98, who. although entitled to £56,000 in the funds and to more than £20,000 accumulated dividends, was constantly borrowing money from her relatives. It was quite evident that the large deposits had escaped her memory-. Since the Finance Act of 1921 the commissioners receive all dividends unclaimed for five years, although the stocks still stand in the holders’ names, and continue to do so ,until 10 years have passed. Moreover, since that year all redemption money _ for War Loan issues not claimed within one year of the date of redemption have been transferred to the commissioners.