HAPSBURGS’ LANDS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17349, 14 May 1924, Page 7

HAPSBURGS’ LANDS.

WHO SHOULD OWN THEM? AMERICAN SYNDICATE’S CLAIM. By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright Australian and N.Z. Cable Association. (Received May 14, 10.30 a.m.) NEW YORK, May 13. The question of the ownership of the immense Hapsburg estates in Czechoslovakia and Jugo-Slavia, valued at about 100,000,000 dollars, in which a United States syndicate is believed to be vitally interested, will be referred to a mixed court, established in Austria under the treaty of Trianon, signed just prior to the dissolution of the monarchy. The Americans interested are said to be members of a syndicate which undertook the management of the property belonging to the Archduke Frederick before the war and the division of the Empire of Austro-Hungary, These Americans, who received a third interest in the corporation, two-thirds being retained by the Archduke and family, include Mr Charles S. Bain, president of the Guaranty True Company, Mr J. Leonard Replogle, president of the Vanadium Steel Company, Mr Frank Munsey, Mr Hugh Young, the John Hopkins University, and several others. The right of Czechoslovakia to confiscate the lands is the point at issue. The Supreme Court of Czecho-Slovakia decided against the Americans, who entered an appeal to a mixed court. The disputed territory includes vast forest lands, apartment houses, mines, palaces and farm lands, estimated to cover 120.000 acres.