THE WIRTH MILLIONS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1754, 20 May 1913, Page 8

THE WIRTH MILLIONS.

A BIG WINDFALL, DISTRIBUTION OP THE MONEY. (By ToleempU.—Special Correspondent.) Auckland, May 19. Sydney files to liaiul to-day by the Malieno supply some interesting information regarding the inheritance by the Wirtli family of .£4,000,000 left bv an unmarried nnclo who recently died in Chicago. About the year 1840 the five brothers left Germany to seek their fortunes abroad. Four of them went to Australia, and one Uaspard Bruce Wirtli, went to America, at onco entering the butchering business. That ho succeeded eminently is shown by the fact that lie left such a huge fortuno to be divided amongst the next of kin—lio had no family of his own. The other four brothers, who came to Australia prodeceased him, so'that their share of tho money goes to the children, who are tho nephews and nieces of the deceased. Tho son of one of these brothers, Mr.' Philip Wirth, who is engaged at tho Proud Jewellery establishment in Sydney, will inherit tho whole of his father's share, .£1.000,000, as ho is tho solo surviving child, but in tho case of tho other thrco families their . share will be divided amongst a number. One of these families, that of Mr. Peter Wirth, lives at Toowoomba, and another, that of Sir. Jacob Wirth, is at Charters Towers. In tho family of tho late Mr. George Wirth, the father of the circus proprietors, thoro are fivo members, Mr. Philip Wirth, Mr. George Wirth, Mrs. Christie (of Melbourne), Mrs. Martin (of America), and Mrs. ICone (of Wngga), and they will divide a million between them. Referring to their fortune tho other night, Mr. Phillip Wirth snid they wero all naturally very much elated at their good luck. The cousin who bore the same Christian name as himself would, lie said, get tho bisgest slice, but he had a family of ten children. Asked if the circus enterprise would ccaso to attract the attention of the present proprietary through tho windfall, ho gave tho suggestion an emphatic negative. "On tho other hand," lie said, "we will devote some of our wealth to further developing that business. Wo hold a Ipase of 21 years of the present old market building near the railivav station, and a good deal of the money will be spent there to a profitable purpose, I hope. You know, I love Sydney and Australia, and it has long been my fHiibition to sot up a hippodrome hero equal to tho fmc«t in tho world, Tnkiwr tho London liinpodrome as n model, wo hopo to stage big equestrian dramas here, and as soon as any doubts about our good lnclc are set at rest, we " ill, begin to extend our show connection in an unprecedented style."