TOO MUCH MONEY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIX, Issue 12814, 13 July 1912, Page 1 (Supplement)

TOO MUCH MONEY.

RELIEF FUNDS OVER-SUBSCRIBED. UNWANTED SUMS IN ENGLAND. LONDON, May 22. As generally happens m this country, riot too "little,, but too much money has been subscribed by the public for the relief of the sufferers by the Titanic disaster. The Lord Mayor's fund now amounts to over £260,000, which is a lot more than is needed, but still subscriptions keep pouring m, and it has just been announced that the big surplus that is likely to remain after all the victims of the recent disaster have been helped will be placed m the hands of the Public Trustee, and will be available m future emergencies of the same kind. . . This will mean still another addition to the colossal sum of money which is lying ownerless m this country. In the vaults of the Bank of v England alone is oyer £1,000,000 whose owners are unknown, and which is doing nobody any good. This represents unclaimed dividends on debtors' estates, trustees m bankruptcy having been compelled, some years ago, to pay into the bank such sums as' had- been m their hands for six months. A wonderful stream of gold forthwith began to trickle into the coffers of the old lady of Threadneedle street, and ultimately amounted to the surii-' mentioned above. What the cash m the hands of ordinary trustees m the country amounts to , can only be guessed at, but it must be. a \ staggering figure. Solicitors alone hold an enormous\ amount for which they caniiot find owners. Coroners, magistrates, and police court missionaries, also are m possession of money to which nobody, lays claim. A typical example is furnished by a recent-pathetic case which was reported; m; the newspapers. Donations for the relief of its heroine— a woman — were sent from all parte of the Country .to 'the magistrate ' before whom her' case had come, \ the total amount thus forwarded — much of -it anonymously—heing more than £80. After £23 had, been paid to the woman, , she died, Jeaying no' known relatives, and the balance'is still held by the magistrate. It is A the almost invariable rule for big public relief funds— like the Titanic oner— in this country to be over-sub-Bcribed, and as a result huge surplussea are 'still m the hands of trustees, who don't know what to do with them. For the relief of sufferers through the- disasterat Hartley, colliery, m 1862, for instance, over • £87,200 was subscribed. This .was so niuch m excess of requirements that £20,000 was at once set aside for, the benefit of those who should be bereaved by other accidents, m cOal mines: Since then all claims On the funds have* been met, but when the last report was mode, there still .was an unwanted balance of £24,000. Another fund much over-subscribed was. that m connection with tho disaster at the Oaks pit, near ' Barrisley, m 1866,. the surplus now m the hands of the trustees amounting to £22,000. There was, again, more than enough money for sufferers by. the Llanerch colliery 'explosion, m 18*90, .and for the women and children of the men killed at Abercorn. A few years ago the trustees of the two funds had nearly £25,000 , more than they . wanted. Sometimes money reriiains m the hands of trustees long after -all the people for whom it was subscribed are dead. , A case of this kind was the Newbury- explosion relief fund, the final balance of which is £70. It seems surprising A that such surpluses exist, and the reason of it is that, as a rule, the amount subscribed is capitalised, and interest only paid for the relief <pf the widows and orphans.- The , subscribers generally have no idea of 'this, but it is so, nevertheless.— Press corresponderitA . : : M'- • '■. ■