CLERK’S VISION OF WEALTH COMES TRUE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18013, 25 November 1926, Page 12

CLERK’S VISION OF WEALTH COMES TRUE.

HOUSTON HEIR-AT-LAW ATTAINS HAPPINNESS. (Special to the “Star.”) LONDON. September 30. A prospect of great wealth, after years of penury and a daily fight for existence during four workless years, h,as been opened to Mr Cecil-Houston Smerdon Skinner, aged thirty-three, the grand-nephew of the late Sir Robert. Houston, millionaire shipowner. Until last January he and his wife and two children were in such a position that they were unable to rent a house. Now, by an announcement made by Lady Houston, they will be the possessors of wealth enough to buy houses and anything else they desire. For Mr Skinner, who works as a clerk in a Liverpool printing house, is principal heir-at-law*, or claimant under Jersey law, to the Houston millions, and Lady Houston has announced, through her solicitors, that, she has decided to treat him with “ great generosity.” Lady Houston hi\s never seen the man who is to share the £5.000.000 left by her husband, but she has heard much of him. It was his application to the Jersey Court that caused the estate to remain for a year and a day under the control of the high sheriff of Jersey. When I saw Mr Skinner to-day in his little cottage, I found him quietly thankful for his good fortune. “ It means a new life for us all,” he .vaid. “ A little while ago we were in lodgings, and thought ourselves lucky to get a corporation house. Now wc shall be able to have a mansion “ I am still in the dark as to details, but am overjoyed at the news. I have no definite plans for the future, but contemplate retiring. At present, however, I am remaining at work. “ I was staggered to hear of Lady Houston’s munificence. Six months ago. when I was claimant under Jersey law, the Court decided against me, although at times I felt that the verdict could not go against me. I have no idea what the amount of my windfall will be. “For something like four years I was out of work, glad of a casual job whenever I could get it! After I came out of the Army, suffering in health, everything seemed to go dead against me. “ There were times when I wondered where the next meal was coming from. “ This year my luck seemed to change. I found regular work. I found a house; and now comes the news of Lady Houston's announcement. You can tell. then, what her words mean to my wife and me.” Mrs Skinner, who was injured in t.hc Ain tree munition explosion during the war, told me that, her husband had at one time tramped the streets day after day looking for work, without, success. She is delighted by the news, which to her means the end of toil and struggle and the beginning of a fuller life.