A FORTUNE IN CHANCERY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3942, 1 October 1929, Page 10

A FORTUNE IN CHANCERY.

WELLINGTON MAN’S CLAIM. WELLINGTON, September 24. Mr H. Spears, who has been in business in Wellington for the last 30 years, is on the track of a £20,000,000 fortune that once belonged to an English family by the name of Cox. In addition to the capital sum involved, it is believed that the claim, if successful, will entitle Mr Spears to large properties in the British Isles, including two castles. This huge sum of money has been accumulating in Chancery for many years owing to the disappearance of two brothers. After spending their youth in England they went out to Australia and were never heard of since. Subsequently this huge Cox fortune was left to them. The next heir to the fortune was unable to find sufficient proof to substantiate his claim. About 40 years ago the fortune was contested in England by interested parties but without success owing to the absence of certain important documents, since discovered in Australia and other places. Mr Spears now hopes to be in a position to claim the fortune. He bases his claim on the fact that his mother was a Miss Elizabeth Cox. Her father, Colonel Cox, served in the Indian Mutiny, and would have been in the direct line if sufficient proof could have been brought forward concerning the matter. Although Mr Spears believes that a Rev. Thomas Cox, as well as his mother, came out to New Zealand in the early days, he does not think that there are many descendents of this Cox family in this country to-day, and only a few in England itself. In the meantime the matter has been placed in the hands of a competent Sydney solicitor.