SMALL FORTUNE WAS FOUND BY CHANCE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 19237, 26 November 1930, Page 14

SMALL FORTUNE WAS FOUND BY CHANCE.

IRISH FAMILY WILL BENEFIT BY LEGACY. (Special to the “Star.”) AUCKLAND, November 26. A surprising case of comparative wealth was discovered by the merest chance in Auckland early this month. An elderly working man died suddenly in a lodging house where he had a rented room. An inquest was ordered, and the police took charge of the man’s effects. A search led to the discovery of a bankbook showing a credit balance of about £250. On learning that a city solicitor was the man’s executor, the police handed to him the bankbook, an old watch and a few other articles that alorie seemed to be worth preserving. About three years earlier, the man had approached the solicitor and had made a will, leaving his property, the amount of which he did not state, to relatives in Ireland. Among the effects received from the police was an old bag containing what seemed to be worthless papers and other odds and ends of rubbish. The solicitor decided that, as executor, it was his duty to make a careful examination of what the man had left. He accordingly set a clerk to work on sorting the papers, which consisted mostly of old bills and lottery tickets. To his surprise, the clerk discovered among the rubbish bank deposit slips showing that deceased had a total sum of no less than £2300 to his credit on fixed deposit in the Bank of New Zealand in Auckland and Melbourne. Relations in Ireland will have every cause to thank the lucky chance that preserved to them the legacy.