SHIPOWNER’S JOKE TAKEN TOO LITERALLY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17780, 25 February 1926, Page 6

SHIPOWNER’S JOKE TAKEN TOO LITERALLY.

SIR E. NICHOLL ASKED TO GIVE MANSION AWAY. (Special to the “ Star.”) LONDON, December 15. There has been a sequel to a facetious remark made by Sir Edward Niclioll, the shipowner, who was M.P. for the Penryn and Falmouth Division from 1918 to 1922, in a speech at a police function, when he stated that, in consequence ol a burglary at his mansion, Littleton Park, Shepperton, Middlesex, his servants had lied, he had failed to sell his mansion, and “up to the present I have not been able to give it away.”

Through the last remark being taken seriously Sir Edward has been so inundated with letters that he has been driven to announce that he is not anxious to give his estate away. Sir Edward showed a “ Daily Mail ” reporter letters received from people in all walks of life, including a bricklayer, ex-Army officers, society women, the sister of a general, and a man who described himself as a godson of the late Emperor Francis Joseph of AusAn ex-sergeant of the Royal Irish Constabulary wrote: “I am six feet in my boots and not afraid to tackle any man. After lighting the Sinn Feiners for over four years, the taking on ot a burglar or two would be child's work. I am very athletic and a good shot.”

A single woman expressed her willingness to.take over the place as she intended to start a dog kennel, while another said she would act as housekeeper if rooms in the mansion were let to elderly widows and spinsters. A London widow who offered her services as housekeeper said she did not know what nerves meant, and added : “ A good house dog is safety for anyFrom Kent, a man wrote that he w6uld like the house because he was “ looking for a decov place where I can give burglars a welcome and make them comfortable and jolly."