UNCLAIMED WEALTH,

Dominion, Volume 2, Issue 395, 2 January 1909, Page 12

UNCLAIMED WEALTH,

£50,000,000 IN CHANCERY. I. The -latest official returns issued by the ■ British Government entirely disposes of the. belief,. so : generally;-held, that; there are' huge v sums of unclaimed money in Chaiicery awaiting tho advent of the rightful heirs.' ' ;There\ is 'now in tho - Court of' Chancery, .- under the control of the Paymaster-General, • the sum;of rather more'than £50,000,000.'0f this- amount some' £49,000,000 ;is; represented by moneys held by the Court as trustees for '? benefices or hospitals,-on behalf .of: minors,'. or iri respect, of estates concerning which -!>: lawsuit's are pending.'The ownership of these y forty-nine millions is either known or .mil d sooner or later b« determined by .tte : Courts.Tho aggregate amount of the unclaimed, b or dormant, funds is about £1,100,000,- distributed' over; ; 3100 separate 1 account's; ?.- Oner' 6 half of the accounts ao not exceed £150 in i- value, and only one-twentieth exceed £1000. i- " A very large number of. the ' dormant 4 amounts aro sof the value of a ; pound- or two," said an official recently, and roprcsent;Bums due to' creditors ■ of : who: have." not -troubled to cjaim -them. There is one sum of £15.000, but we have every reason to believe that . that will never W successfully If "a claim, is sub- . stantiated tho accruing -interest-as,'; of course, handed, over with the original sum. 1 ' g :' In' reference 7 to these dormant' funds . the i- Paymaster-GeneTal has issued. tho following r warning:— .\. ..-■ i: . ■- "The lists of next of kin, heirs to untl claimed money, etc., issued by various, peril sons arc not official publications,: aiid often a contain"- gross. misstatementsV.arid;. cxsggera- ■- tions: . . The public are cautioned agaiast n relying , upon-.the.' .statements -of "persons'.styling - themselves '' unclaimed money; agents,' i- at home or abroad, and professing to be able e to . recover money- in Chanccry on payment of fees or, percenetage,. or; to -act on 'ibehalf e of the ' Court' of. Chancery.' Tho Supromt g Court ofJudicature has no such ..agents. d '-'"It is r&ominen'dcd that iridepeudpnt.ad:s viOG I should'bo ,, .obtained beforo'making ti pay--e mont to-any agency for .information, searches, : i- copies .of advertisements,'etc.," in respect, of; it money alleged. t-o be in, court. • Experience. lib shown that the information so supplied >- is often valueless/to .the" persons .concerned.'': d -V^-w'-v - iOi :. ' 'I-'-: ■'''- n To the command of the Cunarder Limit 10 ania,-Captain; W, T.■ .Turner,- oftheCaronia y .'has- been apiwinted "to. take tho place ck o Captain Watt, who is about to retire. . A n native of Liverpool,- Captain Turner, first went to sea as a deck boy at tho .age ol d thirteen'. He tho scrvice of - the d Canard Company in 1878, subsequentlysmad?" h several more, voyages in soiling vessels,- and, .. .re-entering -the employ of. the Cunard Conv ') pany, ho sailed as.chief officer in thA Aleppo, )- Bothnia, Catalonia, Gallia, and TJmbria, un-. 11 til: ho was appoiuted to the captaincy of the \ Caronia..'. -. ; .■■r\