Page 3 Advertisements Column 1

Gisborne Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1655, 23 January 1906, Page 3

The Observer states : George Mas jey-Watson, charged in one of the southern police courts with having obtained money by false pretences, is the individual of the name who came to the colony some ten years ago with a few thousand pounds and a reputation for great wealth, and squandered his money in ostentatious display. Massey-Watson’s distinguishing, attachments during his short and livoly career in Auckland were a remarkable bull-pup, a gorgeous Highland costume, and a magnificent musical box, which oventually sold under the hammer for a more song, Por some time ho lived in expensive style at the Grand Hotel, while it was under the Johnston management, and when his affairs came ;into the public eye the details of his account for board and ■ lodging occasioned a good deal of remark. The items for cigarettes and mffee, for instance, were such as might fiave been incurred by an Oriental satrap with unlimited credit from his Government, and other expenditure was on a similarly extravagant scale. The vagaries of Massey-Watson made one of the sensations of Auckland for months, and many are the stories told as to his eccentricities. At another time he made a stir in Wellington by furnishing himself with a green banner and making himself a conspicuous figure at the head of a St. Patrick’s Day procession. After the days of his ! prodigality were ended, he did penance for several years by eating the busks of adversity on the gumfields of the North. Recently, he w T ont across to Sydney, and now he has turned up in the west coast districts of Wellington province. Massoy-Watson has wealthy relatives in the Old Country, but apparently they are content to let him have his fling in the colonies,